Powerpuff Betrayal
by Royal Blue Alchemist
Summary: Bubbles/Him. Bubbles is faced with a difficult decision, to save the Professor's life, she needs to stike a deal with Him.
1. Chapter 1

_Soft girly voice, _**freaky demon voice. **

**Ch.1**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Bubbles sat at the lunch table with Blossom and Buttercup, and yet again, she quietly listened to her two sisters argue. They both sat in front of her, on the other side of the table, facing each other. Blossom was telling Buttercup that she needed to study more often, while Buttercup said she studied plenty and that it was the teacher's fault as to why she always failed tests. The argument went back and forth until Blossom said, "What would the Professor think?"

Buttercup retaliated back, "You're nothing but a teacher's pet!" both girls turned away from each other with a huff.

"Buttercup, you really should study more. Blossom, you don't need to nag her about it every day." through the years, Bubbles had become the peace keeper in the group.

"Oh look, the goody-two-shoes has something to say." The green Powerpuff turned to Blossom, "Thanks a lot Blossom, you've turned Bubbles against me."

"Don't yell at Bubbles, she only trying to help you, too."

Bubbles let out a sigh; she didn't understand why they always did this. Every time they got into an argument, they would spend all day snapping at each other, and by the end of the day, they would be friends again. It was just a waste of time.

Buttercup jerked up from her set, "Come on, Bubbles, let's go."

She never had a say in anything, if one of them told her to do something, her only choice was to do it. Buttercup had dragged her into the bathroom, where they usually ended up after a fight. She looked in to the mirror; not much in their wardrobe had changed. They all wore the same dresses as they had years ago; her dress, which was blue and black striped. Buttercup's was green and black, and Blossoms was pink and black. They were all cut very sort, and it was too short for the Professors comfort. They also wore the same black doll shoes and thigh high white stockings. Her hair was still worn in pigtails, only her hair was a little bit longer and all in one big spiral curl. Buttercup's hair was shoulder length and flipped out at the ends. Blossom still wore hers in a big red ribbon.

"What is her problem, why can't she see that everyone is not like her? Not everyone values their grades as much as she does. I wish she'd just get off my back." Buttercup stared angrily into the mirror.

"That's just the way she is Buttercup, she can't help it, you know that... You two have this argument all the time, why can't you just-."

"Cave? No, I don't think so. I'm not going to let her win."

"This isn't a game, what is there for you to lose?"

"You just don't understand, Bubbles, and you never will. When someone challenges you, you don't back down. What would happen if we were to do that? This whole town would go straight to Hell."

"This and fighting crime is different, I-." The bell rang; the life-saving bell.

Buttercup let out a frustrated sigh, "Come on, let's get out of here."

On their way down the hallway Blossom stood on one side of Bubbles, and Buttercup on the other. This, just like the arguments, always happened. They stopped in front of the stairwell, Buttercup hugged her goodbye and ascended the stairs, but she didn't say a word Blossom. After a few more steps, Blossom left for her classroom, also hugging Bubbles goodbye. That left Bubbles to walk to her class by herself, like usual. She was greeted with smiles when she entered her classroom but despite the smiles, none of them were really her friends. This kind of treatment was true for her sisters as well. Even though the people of Townsville loved them, they generally stayed away for fear of their powers. They also held a grudge against them because the teachers treated them with special care. Fighting crime sometime got in the way of school work, but it was usually overlooked.

**xXx The end of the school day xXx**

The three of them always walked home together after school, and today was no exception. Blossom and Buttercup had stopped arguing and were now chatting happily, just like always. They didn't get far in their walk before they were stopped. Brick, Butch and Boomer were standing in their way. Just like always. They never seemed to give them a day off.

"Hey girls, where you going?" Brick, Blossoms counterpart, asked this every day. It was weird, for being the male version of Blossom, he was pretty dumb.

Blossom spoke up, "Home, where we go every day. Now, if you would be so kind as to move?"

"That's not how you tell someone to move, Blossom!" Buttercup looked at the three boys, "Move or we'll beat you to a pulp!"

Butch pushed his way past Brick, "I'd like to see you try it!"

"Don't play tough, you know you can't take us!" the green eyed girl grabbed the collar of Butch's shirt and threatened to punch him.

Both Blossom and Boomer watched in silence. Boomer sometimes acted as the peace keeper, like her. However, most of time, he wanted a fight, too.

Buttercup threw Butch back, making him crash into the ground. Quickly, she grabbed both hers and Blossom's hands and ploughed through the two other boys. Bobbles sighed, the same thing happened every day; it was like she was in a rut. She knew when they got home, the Major would call, and they would have to go out and fight whoever had the nerve to try to take over the city today.

Sure enough, when they arrived home, the hotline phone went off. Although, today was slightly different, it wasn't Mojo or the Gang Green Gang, or some other minor threat. It was the worst possible villain ever; it was Him. He didn't try to destroy the town often, but when he did, it was never easy to stop him. Worst of all, he seemed to get stronger after each battle. Neither of the other two had noticed, even though she insisted that he was getting more powerful. They just wouldn't listen to her. The last time fight they with Him, Buttercup ended up with a broken arm, Blossom had a broken leg, and she had a concussion. Perhaps they were both just too scared to admit that he was getting stronger; it certainly wasn't something she enjoyed thinking about.

They managed to sneak out of the house before the Professor could come upstairs and ask what was going on; after coming home in the condition they did last time, he had been wary about them fighting Him. She the Professor would try to stop them from going if he could. As she flew through the air with her sisters no one said a word. Bubbles could feel the fear radiating off of them, even Buttercup.

When they arrived in Townsville, various buildings were on fire and screams echoed everywhere. Her and Buttercup looked for Him while Blossom struggled to put out the ragging fire. Before she knew what had happened, Buttercup was sent flying back by a beam of red light. When she looked away from her, she only saw Him for a second before he did the same thing to her. Bubbles smashed into a red van so hard that it was nearly torn in two. She groaned and dragged herself out of the rubble. She was about to make her attack against Him, but he wasn't there anymore. As she turned to look for him, she heard Blossom scream. Unfortunately, she had turned too late. Blossom crashed into her body, sending them both back into the red rubble. She quickly pushed Blossom aside and went zooming off toward Him, she threw punch after kick at him, but he evaded them all.

"_My, my, it looks like you girls are holding back. _**O****r are you really this weak?**" while he was talking, Buttercup came back to the scene and punched him across the face, sending him a few blocks away.

"Bubbles, where is Blossom?"

"I'm here!" Blossom floated up to their side, her hand grasping at her side, "I'm okay, let's focus on Him. We'll all attack at once. Buttercup, you go in and keep him distracted, and Bubbles and I will come in from behind."

"Right!" Buttercup flew off and landed a few feet away from Him. Bubbles and Blossom followed at a safe, yet unseen, distance.

"Hey, Him! Don't you have to go buy some more dresses?"

He rubbed the side of his face that was hit and laughed slightly at Buttercup's remark, "_You girls must still be suffering under the influence that you can beat me, _**I'm afraid that you're** **sorely mistaken**."

Him disappeared behind a red smoky clouds that soon covered the entire street. Buttercup looked around in distress, but she didn't have a chance to do anything. The clouds on the ground suddenly came to life and hurled a huge bus at her. It relentlessly pounded into her body, and pinned her to the ground. Bubbles gasped as small pools of blood oozed out from under the bus.

"Blossom, the plan's not working!"

"I know, come on, we have to do something!"

She trailed behind her sister, knowing if she lost sight of her it would be the end. Unfortunately, the red clouds were blurring her vision. Out of force, she closed her eyes and coughed. She couldn't breathe in this stuff. When she opened her eyes, Blossom was gone.

"Blossom, Blossom, where are you!" she panicked and flew up until she was out of the clouds and high above the city. "Blossom!" Her screams echoed through the city, but no one answered her. She felt helpless, and knew she couldn't take on Him by herself. She didn't want to face him alone. She made a move to dive back into the city, but something sharp caught her leg and sent her cartwheeling through the air.

"_You really want to see her? Fine, I'll let you._"

The clouds cleared away to reveal both Blossom and Buttercup, but it wasn't what she wanted to see. Buttercup was still pined underneath the bus, and Blossom was simply lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Her already wide eyes widened further as another bus ploughed into Buttercup, causing more blood to seep out. The same thing happened to Blossom, and she let out a scream.

Bubbles launched at Him, "Stop, you're going to kill them!" this was the only thing she could do; it wasn't as if she could actually fight him.

Him took hold of both of her wrists before she could attack. He jerked her closer so that his lips brushed against her ear, "**That's the idea**."

She pulled up her leg and kicked him in the stomach with enough force to make him release his grip on her, "GO AWAY!" Her sonic scream pushed him away and out of sight. She breathed roughly in the silence, and let the seconds pass away.

"**Do you like your life, Bubbles?" **His voice was so far away, and she couldn't see him. His question was followed shortly by a dark laugh, which caused her heart to skip a beat.

She remained still for a moment and waited for him to resurface, but he never came. His question confused her; it seemed so random, so pointless. She quickly dismissed it since she had something else that needed attending to. After she found the courage to move, she rapidly flew down to her sisters and attempted to get them home as soon as possible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ch. 2**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Bubbles sat in the hallway, leaning on the door to the laboratory. When she had brought her sisters home, the Professor had taken them right away. He had made it a habit to take care of her and her sisters himself. He didn't trust the doctors at the hospital to take good enough care of them. She was becoming nervous, she had been waiting for hours, and there had been no word from the Professor yet. There was something that she still didn't understand. With her sisters in the condition they were, why was she not on the verge of dying, too? Her leg hurt from where Him had grabbed her, but that was it. She wasn't even bleeding. She decided not to question it, and decided to count herself lucky. An uneasy feeling plagued her stomach, what would they do if Him came back? They barely survived that encounter. The door behind her opened, and it caused her to fall flat on her face.

She looked up to see the Professor's grave face staring off into nothingness, "Professor, how are Blossom and Buttercup?"

"Resting, they should be fine." his voice was hallow, which made it seem like they wouldn't be okay, "Did you say that you weren't hurt?"

"I'm fine, Professor... Can I see them?"

"No, like I said, they are resting. Maybe later, Bubbles." he walked away from her and dragged his body up the stairs.

At the moment, she didn't care what the Professor said; she wanted to see them with her own eyes. She opened the laboratory door, which was already slightly open, and snuck down the stairs. Upon seeing her sisters, she felt like she was going to cry. Both of them were covered head-to-toe in bloodstained bandages. For fear of hurting them, she stayed a few feet away. She stood there for a moment, listening to the slow beeps that came from the heart monitors. They both looked so frail and helpless, and she couldn't take it any longer. She had to leave. Quickly, she went upstairs to her room. She laid down on her bed and gazed up at the ceiling, trying to get rid of the sick feeling in her stomach.

**xXx The Next Day xXx**

She went through the entire school day alone, and received odd looks from her classmates. Some of them even asked if Blossom and Buttercup were all right. They didn't ask out of concern for her sisters, they were more curious about why she wasn't banged up. The question of why she wasn't hurt was always slipped somewhere into the inquiries. It felt weird, not having them with her. She missed the sound of them arguing and laughing. To her displeasure, she didn't have a free ticket home; Butch, Brick and Boomer felt it was necessary to push her around a little before they let her pass. Finally, she had to punch Butch across the face and. After that, she made a hasty retreat home by air.

When she landed safely on the doormat, she went inside, expecting to find nothing but silence. Instead, she was greeted by Blossom's smiling face; she looked around her to see Buttercup sitting on the couch playing a video game. They both looked brand new, like they hadn't even been in a fight.

"What- what happened?" she looked around confused, as if she had entered some kind of parallel universe.

"What do mean, the Professor fixed us up, what else?" Buttercups voice boomed over the music of her game.

"But- so soon, you guys were really hurt."

"Believe it or not, it wasn't as bad as last time." the Professor walked down the stairs, still looking as tired as he did last night, "of course, it still took some time. I've been patching them up ever since you left for school."

Sometimes she didn't understand how he did all these amazing things. Yesterday, Bubbles had thought that they were going to die. "Professor, you look horrible. I think you should get some rest." she looked up at him with true concern, but he just smiled and lightly laughed.

Suddenly, Blossom grabbed her book bag, "I've got to go to the library if I ever want to catch up."

"You missed one day, Blossom." Buttercup remarked dryly from across the room.

"Yes, Blossom, I would really rather you stay here." he put his hand on the front door and looked at Blossom with worried eyes.

"Why should you worry, Professor? We're all better now, there's nothing for you to be worried about."

"Blossom—

She looked at him as if he were being unreasonable, "Bye, Professor, I'll be home in a few hours." she slipped past him and walked out the door. She gracefully rose into the air and flew off.

She watched as Blossom left. The Professor could never tell them no, regardless of the circumstance. He obviously didn't believe that she would be okay, and she could see that the worry was eating him alive. Next, the music to Buttercup's game turned off, and the green Powerpuff made her way to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" the Professor looked at her worriedly.

"I have a concert to go to." she tried to move past him, but he stood his ground.

"I don't think so." he tried to sound like an authoritative father figure, but it didn't come out too well.

"That's not fair! You let Blossom go, so you have to let me go, too! "

Bubbles gave her a disappointed look as she saw the Professor's already tired face give in, "Fine you can go, but please, be careful."

"Thanks, Professor." she dashed by him and went flying off down the street.

The house was empty and silent as the Professor gazed out the door, "Go sit down on the couch, I'll get you some medicine." she gently grabbed his arm and lead him to the white couch.

She went upstairs and into the bathroom, where she rummaged through the medicine cabinet. A loud crash bounced up the stairs and into the bathroom, causing her to drop the bottle she currently had in her hand. She glared at the door for a moment before she heard another crash. With that, she zoomed out of the bathroom and down the stairs. As she entered the living room, she saw a shattered vase lying on the ground, and what she saw next caused the panic in her heart. The Professor's body was sprawled out on the floor, white and shaky. She ran to him and kneeled beside him, and she could tell that something wasn't right about his breathing. Carefully, she pulled him up, putting all his weight on her shoulder and flew out the door. She knew that she could get him to the hospital faster than any ambulance.

She watched with worry as the doctors carried the Professor way through the big, white double doors labeled "ER." She sat in the waiting room, with water dripping from her face; it had started raining on her way here. She chocked back a sob, knowing that kind of weather couldn't have been good for him. A nurse came by, handed her a towel and walked away without a word. She didn't bother drying off; instead, she took out her cellphone to call her sisters. She looked at the shimmering blue thing in her hand; the Professor had given them all one, just so the mayor would have another way of getting into contact with them. She tried Blossom first, but there was no answer; she was at the library, so it would be off. Although she knew that Buttercup wouldn't be able to hear her phone over the music, she tried anyway. She didn't get an answer. She left them both a message explaining what had happened and where she was. As soon as she put her phone away, she threw the towel over her head; she didn't do it to dry off, but to cry without anyone seeing. She plummeted off into a restless sleep after a few minutes of crying.

She awoke to someone shaking her, "Oh, Bubbles, I got you message, is everything okay?" it was Blossom.

She rubbed her eyes, "I-I don't know, no one has said anything."

She looked disappointed, "Oh, okay..." she sat down beside her and rested her hand on Bubbles.

They both sat in silence, waiting for any news, good or bad. As time passed, Buttercup finally showed up. When they told Buttercup that they didn't have any news, a nurse finally approached.

"Are you girls here for Mr. Utonium?"

Bubbles shot up from her seat, "Yes, we are."

The nurse looked at her clipboard, "He went into cardiac arrest. He's in recovery right now."

"So, is he okay?" Blossom looked at the small nurse with watery eyes.

The young nurse hesitated, "Is there someone else I can speak to, he's wife perhaps?"

Blossom spoke up, "No, there's no wife, it's just us."

She sighed in defeat, "It's not looking too good... did he fall down and hit his head?"

Bubbles took a step forward, "Well, when I found him, his was on the floor. I think he may have hit his head on a vase."

"He has a concussion, but I don't believe a vase could cause something this severe. Is there anything else?"

"Yesterday, he seemed really weak, but I just thought it was because we came home hurt." Bubbles felt a knot forming in her stomach.

The nurse tapped her pen on her clipboard, "That stress could have triggered the heart attack. As for the concussion, he must have hit his head once before."

It was Blossom's turn again, "You said 'severe,' how severe?"

The nurse thought it over before she answered, " He could slip into a coma if were not careful... I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll let you know when something turns up." she walked away from them with a sad smile.

Buttercup glared in the direction she went, "She doesn't have to go, she just doesn't want to deal with 'little kids.'" her comment went unnoticed.

"It's our fault." Bubbles sank down into her chair and stared blankly at the floor in front of her.

"It-no-it's not our fault." Blossom placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Buttercup sat down beside her, too, "When did it happen?"

"Right after you left, but-."

Buttercup jolted up from her chair, "Why did you let us go!"

"What, how was I supposed to stop you? There was no way I could have!"

"Yes, you could have, if you wanted to! You should have done something!"

Blossom dragged Buttercup away, "What's wrong with you, Buttercup? This isn't Bubbles' fault; she didn't know this would happen."

She jerked away from her, "Well, if she knew he wasn't doing well, she should have said something! And now, the Professor is in the hospital!"

"You can't blame her for this." Blossom hissed in a low voice.

Despite the distance, Bubbles could still hear them. She already felt bad enough, because half of what Buttercup said was true, but she still didn't want to sit here and listen to it. While they were arguing, she snuck out of the waiting room and stood in the hallway. She heard Blossom call her name, so she went to hide in the stairwell, where they wouldn't find her. After a few minutes of siting alone, she managed to calm back down; she sighed deeply and closed her eyes. The sadness was soon replaced by nervousness, it felt like someone or something was watching her.

"_Such a shame… About the Professor, I mean. You must feel very guilty." _

Her head snapped in the direction of _that_ voice. Him stood at the bottom of the stairs, with a smug smile on his face. Her heart pounded against her chest, and the world around her was spinning. She attempted to move her body, but it wouldn't respond to her thoughts. Then, everything froze as Him spoke again.

"**Do you want to save him?**"


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch. 3**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

She stared at Him's lingering form, "What?" she wanted to say something more efficient, but 'what' was all that she managed to shutter out.

"**Don't make me repeat myself**." he took a few steps up the stairwell. His claw ran along the stair railing, producing a hideous _screech_ing sound.

She spoke very slowly, as if the _screech_ing sound clouded her train of thought, "I don't know what you're talking about, the Professor doesn't need saving, the doctors are taking excellent care of him." she held in her breath as he ascended more steps.

"_Yes, I'm sure they want you to think that. Why would they tell girls as young as you the truth so soon...? It's so much like a human to procrastinate in such important matters." _he was now less than five feet away from her, quietly tapping his claw against the shiny railing.

She took in a gasping breath as he suddenly closed the distance and griped her arm, "Let me go, just go away." her voice personified just how scared she was, and she was trembling under his antagonizing gaze.

"_If you don't believe me, I'll show you." _he leaned in closer, so that her eyes locked onto his.

Her heart frantically beat beneath her chest as red smoke crept up the stairs and swallowed her feet. The red smog smothered her vision until even Him's face was blurred away.. Before she even had a chance to panic, the smoke cleared away, revealing Him again. At first, she didn't think anything had happened, but something had indeed changed. They were no longer in the stairwell; they were in a hospital room. At closer examination, she realized that it was the Professor's room. At first glance, he didn't look that bad, but the heart monitor sang a different song, it was low and slow.

"S-so what? It doesn't mean anything." she averted her eyes away from him, looking down at his shiny black boots. She knew it didn't mean anything, but at the same time, it meant everything. She couldn't risk losing the Professor.

"_He's dying._"

"No, he's not, it's not true." she felt like she was lying through her teeth.

"_His life is coming to an end... that is, unless you want to save him_." he nonchalantly twisted one of her pigtails, letting it dance on the side of her head when he let it go.

"What are you talking about, why would you help me?" she wanted to look up, but her head wouldn't move.

He more than less ignored her question, "_Of course, it won't be free. I propose a deal." _

The sneer in his voice made her heart jump, "What kind of deal? What do you want me to do?" she regretted asking instantly, she knew how dangerous it was to tread on this thought.

"_What every villain want's; for you to leave your sisters. If one sister is gone, the other two will fall." _he spoke of this as if it wasn't a big deal.

"No, there's no way I would betray my sisters." her eyes widened in shock, she was unable to believe he could even suggest such a thing.

"_You defend them so greatly, I wonder why?" _he was talking more to himself than to her.

"What are you talking about?" she was truly taken back by this.

"_Why?" _he looked at her like she was stupid, _"Well, they don't really seem to respect you as part of the team." _when she didn't say anything he continued, "_Blossom is the smart one, and Buttercup is the strong one. That's their label, what yours? What does everyone think when they see you?" _

"I'm just as important-." she still looked at Him like she didn't understand.

"_Let's not forget that Buttercup practically blamed you for what happened to him, and although Blossom defended you tonight, she may not do so in the future," _he glanced over at the Professor, "_I've been watching you, and she seems to blame you for quite a few things. I don't see why you put up with her, with either of them." _

She hesitated before she answered, "She can't help it, that's just the way she is." she lifted her head, and gazed at him with resentful eyes, "you've been... watching me?"

He was slightly surprised that she took notice to that, _"Yes, and out of all three of The Powerpuff Girls," _he hissed the title, _"you interest me the most." _

She rapidly shook her head, "Stop it, why are you saying all of this?" she let her head drop in defeat.

He grinned as the determination on her face faded away, _"Don't you want the respect you never received? Right now, everyone sees you as a push over. Don't you want to be stronger?" _

"Stronger?" she stared up at him in disbelief.

"_Of course, even if you have power, it won't make a difference if you won't use them effectively against an enemy."_ he seemed to be talking more to himself than to her.

"Effectively?" she felt like a parrot, mimicking everything he said.

"_Unlike your sisters, you're unwilling to do whatever it takes to win, that is what makes you weak."_

She blinked in surprise, "Stop it! Don't talk about them, or me! You have no right to judge us." she backed away from him, she didn't like where this conversation was going.

Seeing how worked up she was getting, Him quickly went back to the previous topic, "_Now, tell me, do you wish to save the Professor?"_

Just as he had, she let the subject drop, "You want me to leave my home, and everyone I know?" her voice started to crack.

He laughed lightly, "_No, not just yet."_

"What?" she was aw struck, she assumed he would send her away as soon as possible.

He watched her reaction in amusement, "_My plan does not involve taking you with me, not just yet."_

"Not just yet? I don't understand, you say you want me to leave, but not yet?" she suddenly picked up on something he had just said, "You just don't want me to leave. You want me to come with you?"

"_Of course! How am I going to make you stronger if you are not with me?" _

The heart monitor jerked to life, which triggered the taps of the nurse's shoes. Him grabbed her wrist again, and they went back to the stairwell, _"Your time is running out. What's your answer?"_ unlike last time, he was standing behind her, very close behind her.

"Well, I-." she looked down at her wrist, seeing a thin ringlet of blood, "I don't believe he's dying." the concerned look on her face turned to that of anger.

Him cocked an eyebrow, "_You _**don't believe **_me?_"

He gripped her shoulder, his claw ripping into her skin. At first she didn't notice the image that formed in front of her, she was too focused on the blood and pain that emanated from her shoulder. Before she had the chance the look back in front of her, Him wrapped his free claw around her neck, causing more blood to seep out. She winced in pain as she looked at the image in front of her. Doctors were huddled in a tight circle, in a bright white room, which was erupting with orders. She didn't understand the scene playing in front of her, until she saw who they were huddled Professor.

"**I have no reason to lie to you, if I wanted to, I could kill you right now." **he sneered into her ear, "_If you want to save him, you should tell me now." _he removed the claw from her neck and shoulder.

She spoke before she had time to process her thoughts, "Save him." she involuntarily shuttered as he maniacally laughed.

She turned to face Him, only to find that he was gone. Even though he had removed his claw from her neck a few moments ago, she just now felt like she could finally breathe. Was his mere presence enough to shallow her breathing? She didn't like that at all. She glanced around for him again, expecting him to pop out of nowhere. It felt weird, to be looking for Him, for reasons other than a fight. She took in a shaky breath and noticed that she was back in the stairwell. When she accepted the fact that he was gone, she made her way back up to the waiting room.

As soon as she stepped foot into the waiting room, she was bombarded with questions, "Bubbles, where have you been?"

Buttercup cut in, "Are you alight? Are you hurt? Why is their blood on your neck and shoulder?"

Bubbles stared at them blankly, "I just stepped out, I'm fine. I fell on... some glass..." she cursed herself for how stupid that sounded.

"You fell on... how did you do that?" Buttercup looked at her skeptically.

"Never mind that, we need to tell her now," Blossom took in a deep breath, "Okay, when you left, we tried to go find you. We ran across the Professor's room, things looked pretty bad, then Him just appeared out of nowhere! He did...some kind of spell, and then just disappeared."

She nervously looked from side to side, "What about the Professor?" she couldn't believe Blossom had just let the whole blood thing drop.

Blossom gave a sigh of relief, "It's the oddest thing, as soon as Him left... Well, the Professor was okay, he even woke up."

Buttercup pushed Blossom aside, "Yeah, so we were looking for you so that we could go see the Professor together."

As they all walked down the hall to the Professor's room, she couldn't ignore the soul crushing guilt that stirred within her. What was she thinking? Save one life at the risk of hundreds? The Professor wouldn't want this, no matter what. He wouldn't understand why she did this, how could he...? She had practically made a deal with the devil himself. No one would forgive her, not when she couldn't even forgive herself. Her thoughts lingered further down that line. What was going to happen to her? She was only 17. She didn't want to think about what could happen to her while in Him's grasps. She was dragged out of her thoughts by her sisters. They were both talking to the Professor. He looked like he didn't belong in a hospital; Him outdid himself. She spoke to the Professor in a complete daze, not taking in a word of what he said. For the rest of the time, she just sat there, ignoring the world of conversation around her.

"Come on, Bubbles." said Blossom's soft voice.

"What...?" she looked up at her as if she had just entered the room.

"We have to go. "Blossom gave her a quizzical look.

"Geez, where were you? We've been saying goodbye for the past five minutes." she wore an irate expression.

"Sorry, I'm just tired."

She thought again about what Him said, about Buttercup always putting her down. She cursed herself for even thinking on it, she knew Buttercup didn't mean any harm. As they walked home she couldn't keep her mind from creeping back to all the things Him had said. Despite the fact that she knew he said those things just to get to her, she knew they were true. To an extent.

It was extremely late when they arrived home; all three of them went straight to their room. She was relieved that neither of them brought up the blood on her neck and shoulder. She laid down on her bed and vaguely listened to her sisters conversation. She found out that the Professor would return home tomorrow, that the doctors wanted to keep him tonight, just in case. They spoke little of Him's appearance and dismissed it as a fluke. With her body begging for sleep, she slowly faded away before her sisters. She drifted off into a dream, a dream she didn't like. The image was fuzzy and dark, but she could still see what was being portrayed. She was fighting her sister as if they were enemies. Him was there as well, standing on sidelines, looking smug.

She was the first to wake up, and she found herself resting of tear soaked pillow. Sniffing, she stretched out on her bed and glared up at the ceiling. She grimaced as she thought about her dream; she knew this was going to be a long day. She gave a pitying look to her sisters before getting up for school.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch. 4**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Bubbles twirled a finger through her hair one last time before leaving the school's out-of-date bathroom. As soon as she stepped out into the hallway, a pair of hands gripped her arms and shoved against the wall adjacent to the bathroom. Her eyes didn't widen in surprise because it was Butch, Boomer and Brick. She was used to that kind of behavior. It was Butch that held her to the wall, but all of them wore smirks on their faces. She groaned inwardly, things always got of hand when she had to deal with them by herself. She couldn't help but feel bitter as other girls silently walked by her; she always fought to protect them, but they would never stand up for her. So, all in all, she was alone on this one. This time though, she felt brave enough to face them– after all, she had just talked with Him the other day.

"Sup?" Butch leaned in closer, causing her to sink further into the wall.

"What do you want, Butch? I don't feel like dealing with you today." she gave him a cold stare, as best she could.

"Ouch, Butch, I don't think she wants to play." Boomer snickered from behind Butch.

"Too bad it isn't an option." Brick joined in with Boomer.

"Stop laughing, why don't you three just go–"

Butch tightened his grip, though it was nothing compared to Him's, "Now, now, you should be careful how you speak to us." his arrogance practically spilled out with his words.

"Or you'll what? You don't even have your powers anymore, " they all flinched at her words," you three are nothing more than bullies."

Butch smirked again, "I wonder who was able to piss you off so badly." he pulled at the edge of her dress, she immediately smacked his hand away, "when are you three going to stop wearing _that_?"

She looked down at her dress, "Stop wearing what, clothes?"

"... while that would interesting, no." she rolled her eyes, " you've been wearing that... forever."

She looked down at his clothes, his tanned skin was covered in a red sleeveless shirt and black pants. However, she knew all three of them had changed their clothing style in the past years.

She finally pushed him away, "What concern is it to you?"

"You still look like the same little girl you've always been... you all do." she stared blankly at him, "but whatever, I'm just trying to help."

"Yeah, I'm so sure that's what you're doing." she muttered under her breath as the three boys sauntered away.

"Bubbles, Bubbles!" she turned to see Blossom and Buttercup running toward her, "Are you okay, we saw _them_ leaving." Buttercup looked coldly at Butch, Boomer and Brick.

"Yeah, I'm fine, they were just being annoying, as usual." she smiled sweetly at them.

"Forget them, let's go to class." Blossom pulled both of her sisters away.

"You two can go to class if you want, but I'm not."

Blossom turned to Buttercup, "What?"

"I have a test today and I'm not ready for it."

Blossom looked offended, "I asked you if you needed my help."

"Yeah, yeah."

Bubbles sighed, "Here we go again." she muttered so lowly that neither heard her.

**xXx End of School Day xXx**

"Hey..." Buttercup and Blossom looked at her.

"Yeah?" they answered in unison, which was something she was never able to accomplish.

"Do you want to go shopping?"

"Shopping, for what?" Buttercup didn't like shopping too much, and it was written all over her face.

Blossom on the other hand looked excited, "That sounds great!"

She glanced at Buttercup, "For new clothes." she didn't care what Butch taught about her, but it would be nice to get cloths that didn't match her sisters.

Buttercup narrowed her eyes, "Those three idiots said something to you, didn't they? They said something about my dress too, why do you care?"

"I don't! Its just, we always wear the same thing..."

"She has a point, it used to be cute, but now it's kind of odd. We've just never really had the time to go shopping for new clothes." Blossom glanced down at her pink dress.

"Fine, we can go if you want." Buttercup crossed her arms over her chest in defeat.

"And we can go visit the Professor afterward!"

Blossom came out of her dressing room, twirling as she came. Her knee length pink shirt rested on her legs as she came to a stop. She wore a white tank top, which was splatted with pink flowers. Her pink flats taped against the floor when she started moving around again.

"Ah, cute!" Bubbles came running out of her room just then. Her mid-thigh sun dress matched the color of her eyes exactly. Two straps tied behind her neck and formed a perfect bow that dangled down her back. She wore flats too, only they were blue and had a little bow on it.

"Buttercup, are you done?" Blossom called excitedly to the last sister.

She walked out and stared at them with mild interest. A black jacket covered most of her jade green shirt and her black pants were tucked into her black knee length boot, which were laced with green shoe laces.

As Bubbles twirled around, her eyes zipped past the window– she blinked and froze in place. For a split second, she thought she saw Him, smirking like always; she must have been mistaken. They bought enough clothes so they wouldn't have to wash them every other day, or revert back to their old outfit. Fighting crime had a way of dirtying up one's cloths.

**xXx The Hospital xXx**

"How are you feeling?" Blossom sat in the chair next to the Professor's bed.

"Better. The doctors say I can come home in a few more days. They want to keep me a little longer, just to make sure."

"I don't see why you can't come home right now." Buttercup sat on the edge of the bed, with a scrawl on her face.

"They're just doing their job," he laughed lightly, "I see you went shopping, it's about time you girls had some time to what you want to do."

"Yeah, well, don't worry. I bet the whole town will start falling apart tomorrow." Blossom's cell phone went off, "Or today." she gave a frustrated sigh as she answered the phone.

"So, what's our disaster for the day?" Buttercup hopped up from the bed as Blossom closed her cellphone.

"Mojo." replied Blossom in bored voice.

"Oh." Buttercup almost fell back onto the bed.

"Well, come on, we need to stop him anyway." Bubbles spoke up for the first time.

"Bye, Professor, we'll come see you tomorrow." each girl kissed him on the check before flying out the window.

"I swear, I don't even know where he keeps getting his ideas. You'd think he'd run out after a decade or so." Blossom flew slightly ahead of the other two, just like always.

"You'd think after a decade he'd be dead..." Blossom shoot Buttercup a disapproving look.

They arrived in the center of town to see Mojo desperately trying to smash everything with an overgrown robot, "Oh, boy... it's _another _robot. I think he has run out of ideas." Bubbles sighed, "At least this will be easy."

All three flew in on Mojo, so sure that he wouldn't even notice their pursuit. Then, the robot quickly turned on them, and a beam of blinding light smashed into their bodies. Blossom and Buttercup were sent cartwheeling into a nearby building, and Bubbles barely avoided the attack. She flew to her sisters while Mojo was ranting about how great he was and how he was going to rule the world.

"Blossom, are you okay?" her eyes were closed tightly; maybe they weren't completely healed from Him's attack.

She was so concerned with her sisters, that she didn't even notice the giant metal fist speeding toward her. She looked up in shock, just in time to see the fist swerve in the other direction– and clear across town. Even though she was frozen perfectly still, she could hear a mocking laugh that all too familiar.

"_How clumsy of you. I thought you were better than that." _

Shooting up from the ground, she spun around until she found him, "What are you doing here?"

"_Making sure you don't die on me, you're no use to me dead." _Blossom stirred from her spot on the ground, _"I suggest you make the best of what time you have left with your sisters." _he disappeared behind a puff of red smoke.

"Bubbles?" Blossom struggled to sit up, "are you there?"

Quickly, she flew down to her two sisters, "I'm here, are you okay?"

"I think... what happened to Mojo?"

She hesitated for only a few seconds, "I– I beat him, he's gone."

Blossom gave her a concerned look, "Bubbles, I thought I saw–"

Her heart skipped a beat, "What?"

"I thought I saw Him..."

She let out a nervous laugh, "You must have hit your head pretty hard."

"Are you sure, because, Him was at the hospital, and now here..."

"Y–yeah, I'm sure, let's just go home. We all need some rest." she helped both her sisters up, and tried desperately to change the subject.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch. 5**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

The Professor had come home early the next day, which was a nice surprise. Though, he wasn't too pleased to see two of his daughters beat up again. He wanted to take care of them, but Bubbles refused. She insisted that he should get some more rest, and that she could manage to take care of them. After she finished that last touches on Blossom's arm, she slumped down on her bed. She didn't realize how tiring it was to take care of someone, let alone two. She had to give the Professor credit, all of this was harder than he made it look. With everyone asleep, the small house was quiet, to the point of eeriness. It didn't help any that the sky outside was gloomy, with rain slowly washing over the house.

Bubbles drew her legs up to her chest. She watched on with weary eyes as her sisters slept soundly. They were snuggled under the covers– they all still had their colors of pink, green and blue. A few bandages masked their faces and covered their arms. She watched Blossom carefully; worried that she might press on about seeing Him. She knew how smart Blossom was, if Him made any more appearances, she would start asking questions. She let out a distressed sigh; it had never been Blossom's style to just let things go. All the voices in her head told her that she should be thinking up some answers, but she couldn't keep her mind focused. Although she was grateful that Him had saved her, she would have preferred that he hadn't – she didn't want to see anything of him. Especially in front of her sisters.

She shivered as a pocket of cold air made its way to her. Without a moment's hesitation, she gripped her blanket tighter around her small body, and took comfort in the little warmth it gave. She regretted choosing the bed right in front of the windows. The beds in the room were placed to make somewhat of a circle. Blossom's bed was placed opposite hers, where their old bed was, and two bookshelves sat on either side of her. Buttercup's bed was opposite the door, with two large wardrobes on either side of her bed. While on either side of her sat a computer desk and a full length mirror. In the very center of the room was the Powerpuff Girls' Hotline Phone. The room seemed a lot smaller is comparison to their preschool years.

Bubbles flopped down on her bed, hiding underneath the powder blue covers. All she wanted to do was sleep the rest of the day away. She shifted uncomfortably under the blanket as the room got a little warmer, but she ignored it and closed her eyes. She rolled over to her other side when a spicy, almost gingery smell, hit her. She chose to ignore that, too. The silence stretched out for a few more moments until a new weight was added to her bed. She froze, unable to do anything. Suddenly, she jerked up and yanked the covers off of her– Him was looking down at her with a bored expression. Her eyes widened in shock, but she wasn't sure of what to do.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she hissed through her teeth in disbelief. Him opened his mouth to speak, but Bubbles cut him off, "Are you crazy!" she gave a panicked look to her sisters, who were still sleeping soundly.

"_You seem upset._" he smiled down at her.

"Shhhh!"

She clasped her hands over his mouth before she was able to stop herself. His warm lips were lightly placed against her hands and his eyes locked on to hers. Her mind went blank as she felt Him's smile widen. She was brought out of her trance when Buttercup stirred in her bed. She hesitated, and didn't instantly pull her hands away when she turned back to him. A moment later she jerked her hands away like his touch was poison. She turned her gaze to the floor when Him let out a small, amused, laugh.

"_Bubbles-_"

Without giving him a chance to finish, she sprang up from her bed, "Get out of here, what if someone was to wake up?" she was struggling to not scream loud enough to wake anyone.

Her checks flared up more when he laughed again, but before she could yell at him, a claw caught her wrist and pulled her back down onto the bed. Only this time, she was much closer to Him, close enough that their legs touched. She tried to move away, but her wrist was still in his grip, which was pinned to the bed. He held her eyes again, and unnoticed by her, he moved closer and closer. He put his other claw to her throat, causing her jump. Instead of attacking her, like she thought he was going to do, he simply brushed his claw up and down her neck. She looked up at him in confusion, a naive look plastered all over her face. His smirk widened as he wrapped his claw around her neck and pulled her into a rough kiss. She nearly jumped out of her skin, but he took the claw that was holding her wrist and wound it around her waist, pulling her closer so that she was pressed against his chest. She didn't do anything, didn't kiss back, or try pulling away. She couldn't even accept the fact that it was happening. Suddenly, he pulled away and stood up. Bubbles still couldn't move, but she felt like she could cry at any moment.

Him glanced back at her, but she didn't notice, "_It won't be long now, my dear Bubbles...Perhaps our next meeting...You should make every moment you have left here count. _" with that, he disappeared, via his cloud of crimson smoke.

Bubbles, finally noticing that he was gone, managed to push her shaky body off of the bed. After stumbling out of her bedroom, she made her way to the nearest bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She turned on the shower, but only sank down to the cold tilled floor. She rested her head on her knees, wrapped her arms around her legs, and let her tears slide down her flushed checks. She felt sick, both with fear and embarrassment. Before, she was flooded with fear about what would happen to her when Him took her, but now it was ten times worse. She furiously wiped away her tears and stood up, using the wall for support. After she took off her clothes, she silently slipped into the shower. For a while, she just stood under the downfall of water and tried to sort out her thoughts. That turned out to be a mistake; she realized that even though it was horrible and wrong, some part of her liked it. She pulled at her hair as more tears built up in her eyes. She frantically searched for reasons; she was tired, lonely, scared, stressed. She tried desperately to cling to those reasons, hoping they would get her through the night.

**xXx The Next Day xXx**

Bubbles awoke to someone shaking her awake. She opened her eyes to see the Professor looking down at her with a slightly concerned, yet tired look on his face. As she sat up, she ran her hand across her face and noticed it was still wet with tears.

"Bubbles, you forgot to set the alarm last night, you're going to be late for school... are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Bubbles hastily pushed the Professor out of the room, quickly shutting the door once he was in the hallway. She hated to lie to him, but she didn't have time to worry about that right now.

After she got dressed, and fixed her face, she dashed down the stairs. She would have to fly to school to get there on time. It felt weird, not having her sisters with her. Usually, if one was hurt, they all were. It felt almost unsafe to be going by herself, especially with Him's threat lingering in the back of her mind. She silently cursed herself, it was at the forefront of her mind now... and she was doing such a good job at ignoring the issue earlier.

She flew through the front door of the school just a few minutes before the bell was due to ring. She gave a sigh of relief, at least she didn't have to worry about being late for class- and just like that someone grabbed her shoulder and pinned her against the wall. The dread of it being Him hit her immediately, but to her relief it was only Butch, Brick and Boomer. Then she became annoyed, she was NOT going to be late because of them. She pushed Butch away from her and forced her way through the other two.

"Oh, she really doesn't want to play today, Butch." Boomer, as well as the rest of them, proceeded to follow her.

"Hey, where are the other two heroines?"

Bubbles grimaced; he knew, everyone always knows. "I don't have time for this." Bubbles muttered under her breath, but not low enough so that the three didn't hear her.

"I heard they got beat senseless, by one of Mojo's robots, how lame." Boomer snickered with his two brothers.

"So, why are you not beat all to hell? If Blossom or Buttercup couldn't beat him, there's no way you could."

Bubbles felt her checks burn, but continued to walk. She looked at her watch and noticed that she had less than a minute to get to class. She flew off without a moment's hesitation; after all, it was only Butch, Boomer and Brick. To her relief, Bubbles entered the classroom just as the late bell rang.

"Ah, Bubbles, I'm so glad you could join us- but you know my rules, if you're not in your set when the bell rings, you're late." her teacher spoke to her as if she had just burst through the window, even though they had to stop doing that a long time ago.

**xXx End of School Day xXx**

Bubbles walked along the side of the road, in no particular hurry to get home. To her great relief, Butch, Boomer and Brick were nowhere to be seen. They had the annoying habit of following her and sisters home, it kind of scared her, even though they were no threat. The sky was bright blue and birds were chirping, but it didn't have any effect on her mood. She was so tired of how she was treated at school. The year before, Buttercup was in half of her classes, and she would stick up for her when students, even teachers, gave her grief. That wasn't the case this year though, she was completely alone- and she couldn't stick up for herself the way Buttercup could. Even Blossom would talk back more than her. The only people she could stand up to were the three idiot brothers, and that wasn't very impressive. She couldn't help but think that when Him took her away, she wouldn't have to deal with this. Her stomach did flips again; she didn't want to find a silver lining to her deal with Him. Before she realized it, she was home. Sighing, she took out her keys to the house and opened the door. She stepped in to find Blossom cleaning the living room.

"Blossom, what are you doing? You should be resting, not cleaning." She looked at her red headed sister in disbelief.

Blossom smiled at her, "Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine. Although, the house wasn't, I couldn't believe how dirty it was." Blossom looked away from her to clean the coffee table.

"'Couldn't?'" Bubbles looked around; the whole house was absolutely spotless.

Blossom suddenly turned back to her, "Wipe your shoes before you come in!" she pointed her duster at Bubbles, with fire burning in her eyes.

Bubbles jumped slightly as she did what her sister said- at least some things never change. "How are Buttercup and the Professor?"

Blossom's face went back to a smile, "The Professor's been up and about throughout the day. Buttercup, on the other hand, has been in bed all day... 'Get me this, get me that.' She's not that badly injured."

Bubbles laughed slightly before walking up the stairs. Half way up Blossom called back to her, "Don't bother being quite, Buttercup is perfectly fine... tell her I'm not getting her anything else, don't you get her anything either."

Bubbles laughed again, "Right."

She sat her things on her bed as Buttercup barked out commands, which she ignored. She looked out one of the windows, and her heart sank. The sky was dark, a dark red. Like the red cloud of smoke that was always present with Him. Buttercup fell silent and Blossom walked into the room with a worried look on her face. Just as Bubbles turned around, the ring of their hotline phone broke through the silence.


	6. Chapter 6

**Ch. 6**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

They flew in silence. All knew that a plan was needed, but then again, you didn't need a plan to lose. Bubbles followed a few feet behind her sisters; it was taking all her strength to simply fly. As they came closer and closer to the city, her heart pounded faster and faster. Soon, the only thing she could hear was her heart beat. The quickening rhythm threatened to drive her over the edge, but another sound saved her from falling off that edge. Unfortunately, it didn't keep Blossom from plummeting to the ground. She didn't see what had happened, but she heard the bone crushing sound that came as Blossom smashed into a paved street.

"Bubbles, get in the game!"

Buttercups' frantic voice pulled her away from Blossom. Buttercup was trying to get hit at Him, but he easily pushed her away. The same bone crushing sound filled the air, only Buttercup was thrown into a building. With great effort, Bubbles managed to pull her eyes away from her other sister. She stared blankly at the place where Him was, only, he wasn't there. She felt something brush against her arm; she knew it was Him's claw. Before she had time to react, something jerked her away. She skidded onto the road below, and saw that it was Blossom who pulled her away; she was a few feet away from her. Dust and gravel danced through the air. She went to Blossom's side at once and saw the cutes that marked her face. She looked back at her previous spot in the air; once again, she didn't see Him. Quickly, she stood up and spun around, but he wasn't behind her this time. He was nowhere to be seen. She looked back to Blossom to see that she had fallen to the ground. She must of used the last of her strength in pulling her away from Him.

"What happed here?"

Bubbles turned to see the pale faces of Butch, Boomer and Brick. She swallowed her pride as she looked at the three boys, "Help me." her voice was barely audible, but they still heard her.

Boomer went to her side as Butch and Brick went to Buttercups aid. Bubbles scanned the area for Him, while Boomer checked Blossoms' pulse, "She's still has a pulse. Bubbles?"

She saw Him, standing in the shade of a nearby building, with a look that told her to come to him, "Okay," she looked down at her sister one last time, "I'll be right back."

Boomer gave her an odd look, but quickly turned his attention back to Blossom. Bubbles stood, took one step and stumbled. She glanced down at her leg, the fall had cut through her skin, and her foot was covered in blood. Before she began to walk again, she heard Brick and Butch pull Buttercup out of the building she crashed into to. She wanted to look back, but she forced herself to walk on through the dust that still swirled around her. Every step hurt and by the time she reached Him, her eyes were filled with tears, from both pain and fear. Silently, she begged herself not to cry, and it seemed to be working. He backed further into the shadow of the building, forcing her to disappear from everyone's view.

"_Bubbles._" he smiled at her slyly, though she could barely see him through the darkness.

She shifted nervously from one foot to another. She wanted to ask him what he was doing here, but that seemed like a stupid question. Though, it was just as stupid to stand there and say nothing.

"_You seem awfully quiet, Bubbles. You don't have anything to say?_" he glanced behind her, where her sisters were still down and out.

Anger flushed her face, "What do you want?" she immediately took a step back and regretted what she said.

Her stomach flipped when she saw the smirk that appeared on Him's face. She decided to make a run for it, but before she could even turn around, Him was in front of her, gripping her wrist so tightly that blood ran down her arm. Voices seeped into the dark alley; people were starting to come back outside to see what had happened. She glanced behind her, hoping to see what was happening, but she couldn't see through the darkness and dust. When she looked back to Him, he was staring out to the street as well. She knew that he could probably see the scene, unlike her. For the first time ever, she could read his eyes; he didn't know whether to go or stay to finish what he started. Suddenly, his eyes snapped back to her, and she could no longer read them. She froze under his gaze. The pain in her wrist was starting to bring water to her eyes; she wanted desperately to pull away.

"_What an odd question..._" he tightened his grip, "**Although, right now, I want you to get rid of those three. I don't think your sisters will be much of a problem.**"

His red, smoky clouds covered the city. All the people that had dared ventured outside now went screaming back to the safety of their homes. Given no time to complain, Him pushed her out of the alleyway. She stumbled around in the dim light for a few moments until she saw Boomer, with Blossom slumped on his shoulders.

"Bubbles, finally. Where the hell did you go?" he looked around cautiously at the red fog that shrouded the city.

She knew what Him wanted her to do, but she just couldn't, "Boomer, you need to get out of here. Take everyone with you."

He gave her an odd look, "Okay, let's get going, Bubbles."

She looked from side to side, expecting to see Him, "Just go, I'll catch up with you." her voice sounded a little frantic now, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Bubbles, I'm not going to leave without you."

She sighed in frustration, now he chooses to act like a decent human being. Perfect timing. She couldn't risk them staying here. If she didn't make them leave, Him would take care of it himself. If it were to come to that, they might not be able to leave at all. Guilt washed over her, she didn't want her sisters to suffer anymore. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn't want Boomer, Brick or Butch to get hurt either- they didn't have any powers, so they would be no match for Him.

She thought for moment before responding, "Look, you need to get Blossom and Buttercup out of here. Not to mention you guys aren't safe here either... Someone needs to stay here to protect the citizens if Him comes back." she kept her voice calm, but she hissed Him's name.

Boomer looked thoughtful for a minute, "Alright, I see your point...but, you'll be here by yourself."

She saw the worry in his eyes, but she didn't have any more time to waste on this. She started pushing him toward the direction of her house. Once they were at the edge of the city, with Boomer complaining the whole way, Butch and Brick appeared with Buttercup. With one glance, it was clear that Buttercup had taken the majority of the beating, like always.

"Alight guys," all three boys turned their attention to her, "take Blossom and Buttercup back to our house, the Professor will take care of them. You need to stay there; it will be safer than here... I'll come as soon as I can." she tried to keep her voice strong, but it trailed off toward the end.

All three looked at each other, then at Blossom and Buttercup, "Okay..." Boomer sifted Blossom so he was holding her bridal style, and set off.

"Don't do anything stupid." Butch said coldly, but she could see the same concern that filled Boomers' eyes. Brick simple nodded before they set off as well.

Bubbles watched them until she could no longer see them. Suddenly, she felt the air around her become warmer, and she knew what was next, "_That wasn't exactly what I meant when I said to get rid of them, but it's a start._"

As she looked at the now blue sky, she tried to gather her strength, and for the most part, it seemed to be working. After taking a deep breath, she turned to face Him. She looked at him sternly, but her new found confidence slowly started to fail her as she looked into his eyes. She soon felt small again, and it made her sick to her stomach. She so desperately wanted to prove to Him that she's not as weak and fearful as she seemed to be. Although, she decided that now was not the time. She tried to back up this decision with a rational answer. The truth was, she was afraid; it made her all the more sick.

Him looked down at her in amusement, watching her determination fade from her face as he glared down at her. She appeared more and more miserable as the seconds passed. He could see the internal battle she was having, and he found that even more amusing. Out of the goodness of his heart, he decided that he would take her away from this place now, and save her the trouble of facing her sister and the former Rowdyrough Boys.

Bubbles gasped as Him once again gripped her wrist, digging deeper into the wound that was already there. She whimpered in protest, but it fell on deaf ears. She was really beginning to hate that. It wasn't as if she was going to fight back, there was no need to cut away half of her wrist. She stood her ground and silenced her whimpering since she didn't want to give Him the satisfaction. She blinked in frustration, her vision was becoming blurry. She could see less and less of Him's face, until it was just a red blob. Soon, the blurriness passed, but it was replaced by darkness.

**xXx Later xXx**

Bubbles felt warm and comfortable, better than she had felt in days. She let out a happy sigh, and breathed in the oddly familiar air. She couldn't place the scent, but at the current moment, she didn't care. Then, without warning, the events of the day came rushing back to her, along with the pain. Slowly, she rose, and even more of the pain came back. She looked down at her wrist, it was neatly bandaged. When she tried to move it, it screamed in protest. She lightly touched it with her index finger, and a small wave of pain shot up her arm. She grimaced as she realized she couldn't move her body without aggravating a bruise. Finally, she took the time to look around her a bit. She was on a bed, a rather large one. She poked at the fluffy red blanket on top of her; it was soft enough to be a cloud. The sheets below her were black...and made of silk. Her stomach did flips as she realized she wasn't in her bed. She closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths, and tried to calm herself. Now was not the time to have a panic attack.

She looked out further, and for a few moments, confusion replaced her pain. The bed she was sitting on, along with a night stand, sat on a hunk of rock, which was floating in the air. Even further out, more and more rocks with things such as furniture on them, floated around her. The red-ish fog that was always present with Him surrounded her, but it looked like it made the walls of this...place. She was so very confused, that is, if she was where she thought she was. Her and her sisters had found Him before, in a house, a normal house. What was this place? Perhaps he lived in more than one place. As she thought about it, she realized that the house they would find Him in would sometimes be empty. Completely deserted. Suddenly, as if he had only just appeared, she saw Him- part of him anyway. She could see his claw, and part of his leg sticking out from the overstuffed armchair he sat in. Her fear was confirmed. She was with Him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ch. 7**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Bubbles took a deep breath. Oh god, this was his bed. It was his scent that she liked so much. With her good hand, she clinched the bed sheets as she tried to calm her panic. One part of her wanted to hide under the blanket, the other wanted to be as far away from _his _bed as possible. She tried to calm herself by taking in another deep breath, but every time she did, she could smell Him's scent. After she couldn't take it any longer, she pushed away the blanket and jumped off the bed. Too bad gravity wanted to test how badly it could piss her off today. She fell the ground with a thud, her arm leaning over the side of the rock. She shot an accusing glare down at her legs. Then she saw it, the leg that was covered with blood during the fight. Above her ankle were a few inches of bandaging. She inwardly cursed her leg for not being able to hold her weight.

"_Does it hurt?_"

Bubbles nearly jumped out of her skin and let out a small scream. She turned around, ignoring the protests from her leg, and saw Him. He was floating in the air a few inches in front her. Her expression changed from that of shock, to annoyance when she saw the smirk on Him's amused face. She felt so stupid. She should be used to that smirk by now. Before she could say anything insulting, he grabbed both of her arms and hoisted her up. His grip was strong, but it didn't cut through her skin, like before. Then, he pushed her back down on the bed. For a moment, panic sparked inside her.

"_You shouldn't be moving around. I'm afraid your leg can't hold your weight yet._" His grin widened as he saw the glare she was giving him, "_Why are you so cold with me? I thought that you were supposed to be the sweet one?_"

She cringed away as she heard the mocking, sarcastic tone to his voice. She looked away from him, pretending to be immensely interested with the lap beside the bed. Anger washed over her, and she hated it. Her heart dropped as she realized all the negative feelings she was experiencing. The past few days hadn't been her best and she would give anything to feel happy again. Her heart only ached more as she began to wish that she had never made her deal with Him. Her thoughts traveled to her sisters. She hoped that they were all right. She wondered how the Professor would react when he found out that she was missing. She was really beginning to believe that she had made the wrong decision. She jumped back in surprise as Him's face slid in front of her.

"_Your sisters are not dead._"

Bubbles took a deep breath. A blush trespassed on her pale checks as she realized she had been holding it. She looked away from Him once more, hoping that he would leave this time. Do to her naturally nice nature, she wanted to thank him for not killing the ones that she loved so dearly. She tried desperately to fight that urge down. It seemed to be working, but she was sure that Him could read her like an open book. Relief and thankfulness must be written all over her rose-colored face. Her sore body tensed over as Him continued to sit next to her. She became more nervous as he stayed silent.

She couldn't take how close he was to her, even though he wasn't as close as he had been when they were in her room. He was close enough so that she could smell him. Or perhaps it was just the bed. Either way, she forced herself to believe that she didn't like it. She didn't want to be near him! Her hurt leg just wouldn't allow her to get up. Much to her dismay, the tension in her body eased as his smell became stronger; she didn't realize that he was actually moving closer. She felt like falling back to sleep as his body heat washed over her. It was more comforting than she cared to admit.

"_What's the matter, Bubbles? I thought you would be relieved._"

The warm and cozy feeling left her body as Him spoke. He wasn't going to stop talking until she replied, "I... I am."

He decided to ignore her not-so-sure reply, "_I believe things worked out for the best back in the city. Your sisters still trust you. They'll believe that I've simply kidnaped you._"

Bubbles fought back to urge to say that he had kidnaped her. She didn't like what he seemed to be implying. If Him thought that her sisters still trusted her, then he might send her back to them. She didn't want to lie to them any longer. Her mind traveled back to the city, and to what Him wanted her to do. She couldn't fight her sisters. Her heart just wouldn't allow it. On top of that, she doubted that she was even strong enough to beat them both. Him was just kidding himself if he thought she could. Sadness washed over her yet again. She was so tired of being unhappy. So tired of being frightened. Her heart skipped a beat as Him pressed his lips against her ear.

"_You seem upset._" he leaned in a bit closer, "_Is there anything I can do to help?_"

She froze as he spoke his last sentence. It sounded like something he would usually say in his scarier voice. Then she realized something odd; he hasn't spoken to her in that voice for a while. A small gasp escaped her throat as she noticed Him was still pressed against her, and that she had not yet attempted to move away. She pushed away from him but only succeeded in trapping herself between Him and the backboard of the bed. She mad one fatal mistake; her eyes met Him's. This happened every time. She could never look away from Him's eyes.

"_I think you could use some more rest. Go back to sleep._"

She felt as if she could breathe more easily as Him got up from the bed. She watched as Him went back to his big puffy chair.

**xXx Blossom and Buttercup xXx**

Blossom opened her sore eyes only to be blinded the light that shown through their windows. After a few moments of gathering her strength, she finally managed to sit up. The lights in the room were not on, but the sunshine provided enough illumination. She could see that Buttercup was curled up underneath her emerald green sheets. She glanced over to Bubbles powder blue bed to find that it was empty. A slight sense of panic came over her, but she tried to push it aside. Through her pain, she managed to rise from her bed. Slowly, she made her way to the door, tripping a few times during her journey. Once she reached the door, she had to pause to catch her breath. She stumbled out of the doorway, and leaned on the wall to keep her balance. The bottom or her pajama pants dragged on the floor. The trip down the hallway to the stairs seemed to take entirely too long. She wished she had the energy to fly. When she reached the stairs, she was more than a little surprised to see Butch, Boomer and Brick in her living room. Butch was the only one awake. He looked at her and quickly got up.

"Blossom, you're awake?" he went up the stairs when he noticed that Blossom was swaying from side to side.

"Yeah, Buttercup is still sleeping." she didn't hesitate when Butch offered her his hand. The walk down the stairs seemed to take longer than the hallway.

"I don't doubt that, she was in really bad shape."

She tightened the grip on his hand as she asked her question, "Where is Bubbles? She wasn't in her bed."

He stopped once they stepped off the final stair, "We...we don't know."

She gave him an odd look, "What do you mean?"

He led her to the nearest set, "Well, Boomer just got back from looking, he couldn't find her anywhere."

She thought for a moment, "What about Him? How did the fight end?"

He forced her to sit down, but he continued to stand, "We don't know that either... you and Buttercup were badly hurt. Bubbles made us take you two home. We went right back to the city after we dropped you guys off, but she wasn't there. Neither was Him."

"Well, what do you think happened?" she jerked herself up from the coach, but dizziness washed over her, and made her fall back down.

Butch jerked back at her sudden outburst, "I don't know."

Blossom quickly cut him off, "What if Him took her?" she stood up again, and she didn't go back down this time.

Butch placed his hands on her shoulders, "Come one, Blossom. What would Him want with Bubbles?" once again, he pushed her back down, "No offence to her or anything, but she's not that strong. What worth would she have to Him?" he sat down beside her.

Blossom stayed silent for a few minutes, thinking, "Maybe that's the point."

Butch gave her a blank stare, "...wait, what's the point?"

She sighed, Butch may be showing compassion; which was miraculous in itself, but he was still as slow as ever. "It might be a trap. We know that Bubbles can't beat Him, so we'll try to save her."

His blank expression disappeared, "Oh. So, she's like bait."

Blossom gave a sad nod, "It seems that way."

"What are you going to do?"

She looked thoughtful, "We have to get her back, we can't leave her with Him... Careful, we'll have to extremely careful."

"No kidding."

Blossom rubbed her head, "Where is the Professor?"

"Asleep. He had his work cut out for him... That's kind of why were still here, he needed help." a slight blush crossed his face as he looked away from her.

She gave him a questioning look, "Butch?"

He quickly moved away from the girl that could probably still kick his ass, "I didn't see anything. I swear!"

She got up from her set with a slightly embarrassed frown, "I suggest you not blurt that out to Buttercup."

**xXx The Next Day xXx**

"Come on, Blossom! Get up!"

Blossom woke to her sister shaking her quit vehemently, "Okay, get off of me!"

She watched her sister stretch in front of her, "You seem to be doing well."

Buttercup gave an overconfident smile, "Yeah, thanks to the Professor. It's like he's magic or something. One day we'll have broken bones, and the next day, were fine. I don't see why he doesn't work at a hospital or something."

Blossom sighed at her forgetfulness, "Don't you ever pay attention? The Professor said that our bodies are different from normal humans. The technique he uses on us won't work on others."

"Oh, yeah." she scratched her head in confusion.

She frowned at her sister's usually loud voice, "Be quiet, Buttercup. I told you last night that the Professor doesn't want us to leave. He even made the boys stay here to make sure we stay."

She made a snorting sound, "Like they could keep us here. What's keeping us from flying out of our windows?"

"Nothing. Now, let's go before someone comes to check on us."

Buttercup nodded as she followed her sister out the window. Both flew in silence. Blossom couldn't help but feeling a bit scared. She knew Buttercup was more than willing to go. If she was scared, she covered it well. She felt bad about leaving when the Professor told them not to. He was worried about Bubbles just as much as they were, but he thought to go looking for Him was suicidal. She couldn't disagree with him, but she wasn't going to delay on saving Bubbles. She was brought back from her troubling thoughts as they landed in front of a small house in the middle of nowhere. Buttercup didn't want to waste any time, she tried to charge at the door. Blossom quickly tackled her to the ground.

"What are you doing? I told you the plan! We can't just go rushing in. Especially if Him is expecting us!"

"Well, if Him is expecting us, then why waste time being careful? He probably already knows were here!"

Blossom frowned, "You agreed to the plan last night."

"Yeah, well... now were here and I think the plan sucks."

"I can't believe you, Bubbles is counting on us!"

"So let's go!"

Buttercup burst through the door and went into a fighting stance. The room was empty. Blossom cautiously fallowed her, with a grimace. Before Blossom could say anything, Buttercup ran deeper into the house. Blossom sighed in frustration and looked around. This house seemed to be empty. Dust on the furniture. No lights. She found a light switch and flipped it up; nothing happened.

"This house is empty, Buttercup!" she cried out in frustration.

Buttercup emerged back in front of her, "Why isn't she here?"

"I don't know... if she's not here. If Him isn't here." she rubbed her head, "I thought he took her to make us come after him. If he's not in a place where we would normally find him, then maybe he has something else in mind." both sisters looked at each other in confusion.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ch. 8**

**xXx Him xXx**

Him observed Blossom and Buttercup in silent amusement as they raided his house a few miles outside of Townsville. They would not find him there, nor would they be able to find this place; his sanctuary. To make it even better, Bubbles would not be able to escape. The only way she could leave was if he wished it. She could search until her hearts content, but she would never find her way out. He peeked his head out from behind his chair to see his little captive still sleeping. He cast his glare back to the image of the two sisters. The dark smile he wore crept further across his face. They were convinced that Bubbles had been kidnaped, taken away against her will; this could work out well for him.

With trust still in their hearts, they would welcome their missing sister back with open arms, although with her welcome, there would come questions. Even the green one would be curious. There was another obstacle standing in his way, one that wouldn't be easy to get around. Bubbles might be the most timid of the three girls, but she was still strong. He knew he needed absolute control over the blond Powerpuff for his plan to work. There were two options; he would need to completely break her, or make her feel like she didn't belong with her sisters. He was in favor of the latter, even though it seemed more tedious.

He let out a sigh as he leaned back into his chair. This plan would definitely test his nerves. Those three girls had spent their entire life fighting evil, fighting him. If their father hadn't fallen ill, Bubbles would not be here. He couldn't forget that. The little girl sleeping in his bed was pure of heart. That would be problematic. He had to be very wary of his actions, one wrong move, one feeling hurt, and any progress made would be undone. It would be back to square one. First, he needed to get the progress out of the negatives. Even though it hadn't been a real kidnaping, it must have felt like one. Slowly, he pushed himself up from his chair, and made his way toward Bubbles.

Silently, he stared down at her. His silken sheets draped perfectly over her small form. Her hair had come undone from the battle, and it laid in a messy flow around her head. She seemed so innocent, more than usual, in her sleep. He didn't think that was possible. He frowned. Memories of their kiss came back to him. He had no idea what had come over him. No opinion about the kiss itself was present, he had not thought about it. What he had thought about was his lack of control during that moment. It irked him to no end that he had acted so rashly, and on such a trivial desire. His mood suddenly turned darker, back to its normal state. His first option of control now started to feel more appealing.

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Once again, she woke up, but no bright light blinded her. Immediately, she sat up, her body no longer ached. She could barely see past the edge of the bed. It wasn't only dark, but it was cold. She pulled the sheets around her shoulders, but it did not keep the ghostly chill away. Remorsefully, she rose from the icy bed and abandoned the useless covers. The space surrounding the bed wasn't much better, it even seemed more hostile. Nervously, she took a step forward and a soft echo filled the room. She continued, until the ground fell out from under her. Air filled her lungs, but a scream never came.

The fall ended as quickly as it began. A whimper did come from her, however. An acrid pain once again pulsed through her wrist. She only needed one guess to figure out what it was. Before she could look, she was dragged up and then thrown on the bitterly hard ground. Her hand instantly gripped her wrist, and she felt the blood running down her hand. The cut seemed much deeper than the other times, and it seemed as if a massive amount of hatred was behind it. Her heart started to beat vehemently against her chest as a foreboding feeling consumed her. The darkness surrounding her started to clear as her eyes adjusted to it, and could just barely make out the outline of Him's boots. In a pathetic attempt to put some distance between them, she tried to back away, even though she could feel the comforting heat that radiated off his body.

Obviously, she did not get far; Him quickly bent down and once again grabbed her bloody wrist.

A gasp escaped her and she tried in vain to pry his claw off, but any attempt only made it more painful. Her unshed tears now blurred over her blue eyes, and continued to fall quickly down her flushed checks. The dark images around her blurred into nothingness, and it only increased her fear. She pushed herself as far away from Him as she could get and used her free hand to wipe the tears away from her eyes. Silently, she cursed herself, for she had forgotten that her hand was covered in blood. More tears spilled over her eyes. It didn't take long for her to crack under the pressure, and her fist flew at her capture and she somehow managed to push him away. Once again she backed away, only this time she fell right off the edge. She tumbled through the air in fear until she remembered that she could fly. Slowly, she came to a stop.

She tried desperately to rid the blood from her hand by wiping it on her new dress. Finally, she was successful in removing the blood and tears out of her eyes. Not that it helped much; it was still too dark to see. She waited in silent anticipation for her vision to adjust. Her vision was better than the norm, it was even better than her sisters', but it still took time. The form of the floating rock she had fallen off of became visible. She was unsure of her next move. If she went back up, she could meet Him again... her eyes narrowed, why hadn't he come after her? If anyone could see in the dark as if it were light, it would be Him. He had no obstacles to overcome in order to get to her. So why wait? What would be to point in making her come to him?

There was no need for a trap when he could so easily get her himself. Gingerly, she floated down, moving away from her falling point. It suddenly dawned on her; he didn't need a practical reason. Toying with her mind would be reason enough. Wasn't that what he had been doing? First kissing her then treating her like the enemy again. Her heart had been beating rapidly against her chest, but it had subsided back to its normal state. There was nothing but silence.

She decided to take her chances, since she knew he would get her one way or the other. The journey back to the rock seemed to take forever. She landed down on the rocky top, and a small taping sound came from it. She stared silently at the scene before her. Him sat on the edge of the scarlet bed, facing her, his head bent down. His yellow eyes seemed to glow; it made her think of the color that a light house beam produces on a foggy night. It was eerie, it didn't give off the hope that the light would give to the sailor lost at sea. He appeared to be deep in thought; he must be since he hadn't noticed her return. Then right on cue, he glanced back at her, but his eyes quickly snapped away. Air would not enter or leave her as she watched Him raise, his eyes becoming nothing more than angry slits.

Naturally, she went into a defensive position, still not daring to breathe. Her eyes widened and she prepared to attack as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Nothing came. She waited, but still nothing happened. A deep breath was finally permitted as she dropped her guard. Just to make sure, she spun around, and her tattered dress whipped around her legs. Still, she saw nothing. Her brows made a frown against her confused eyes.

Her footsteps echoed as she made her way back to the bed. For some reason she forced herself not to look at the place where Him had sat. Her hands fumbled on the night stand as she searched for the lamp. She sighed in frustration; she should have done that to begin with. She winced away from the light as it flooded the room. Cautiously, she sat down on the bed, since her head was spinning. Her eyes had just adjusted to the darkness, and they weren't too pleased to encounter the blinding light. As she opened her eyes they fell on the night stand. More precisely, the tiny drawer. Without permission, her hand gripped the door knob and it slid open. Inside was a tiny first-aid-kit. Hastily, she snatched it up and laid it on her lap. She looked down at her bandage ankle again. Another frown crossed her face.

First he kisses her, then they fight, then he takes care of her. Then yet another fight. And she thought Buttercup was weird. She shook her troubling thoughts away and focused on her bloody wrist. She quickly wrapped it up with the bandage and managed to wipe some of the blood away. Her work wasn't as neat as Him's, but she didn't care. She sighed as she flopped down on the bed. Her eyes closed, but they didn't stay that way long. Something told her she needed to look, so reluctantly, she did. She let out a small shriek as she saw Him's eyes glaring down at her. She wanted to push herself away, but she could not find the strength. She soon noticed that he looked different than before. He no longer looked angry, just simply annoyed. As his claw came toward her, she flinched away, and was surprised when he gently pulled her up. He looked down at her bandaged wrist, no clear emotion on his face.

"**I**..." he paused, a look similar to aggravated pain masking his face, "**Apologize**." there was no sympathy in his voice, and he looked as if this was the most disturbingly horrible thing he had ever done.

She was unsure of what to say, she had never had an arch enemy apologize to her before. Then again, he had done a horrible job of it. But it would not be wise to test him, "...I'm fine." her response wasn't very sincere either. Her gaze went off to the side.

When she looked back up, Him was standing beside his scarlet arm chair, "_Bubbles, come here_."

She let out an exasperated sigh as she flew over to him. When she landed, she made sure to stay a few feet away from him. "What?" she waited, impatiently, for him to do something.

A few moments later, he turned to her and filled the gap between them, "_There has been a change in planes, I believe I took you too soon. You will go back._"

Her eyes widened in shock, but soon narrowed in suspicion, "Why?"

His smile widened, "_It is my plan, dear Bubbles, and it is for me to know. However, I am going to tell what you need to do..._**and if you don't do exactly what I say, the Professor will pay the price**."

She had no idea what would be in store for her, but she defiantly wasn't looking forward to it. She fought back her fearful tears, "I understand."


	9. Chapter 9

**Ch. 9**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

A cool breeze blew through her hair, but it didn't give her a pleasant feeling. She leaned against a nearby tree as she looked sadly at her house. Guilt slithered into her heart as she thought about what she had to do. Him didn't tell her much, just that she needed to get her sisters to town by five o'clock. She looked down at her bunny watch, it was nearly time. Time passed slowly as she watched the second hand, which was in the shape of a bunny, slowly tick around and around.

She took a deep breath and made her way across the green lawn. The wind that blew in the air agitated the pollen from the flowers, which agitated her. It was a familiar feeling and it did manage to give her some comfort. After she reached the front door, she hesitated for only a moment before gingerly opening it. The inside appeared to be exactly the same as when she left it, but no one was to be seen. There was a silence to the house that wasn't familiar. She stepped in and leaned against the door, letting it close slowly and silently behind her. She breathed in deeply, happy to have the clean smell of home fill her lungs. Her eyes closed and a smile graced her lips.

"Bubbles!" her eyes snapped opened just in time to see Blossom zoom toward her. Blossom's arms were wrapped around her before she could say anything.

She instantly hugged her back, thankful for yet another familiar feeling. Before she let the warmness completely take her over, she pushed her away, "Blossom, we have to go!" she tried to make her voice frantic, but she was still too lighthearted to pull it off.

"What, why? I want to know what happened to you- why do we have to go, and where?" she was speaking so quickly that Bubbles barely had time to take it all in.

She forced her voice to sound worried, "There's a monster attacking the city!"

Blossom glanced upstairs to where the hotline phone was, "The Mayor would call." she gave Bubbles a perplexing look.

She cut her off, "His office was crushed by a tree- he's all right though." she felt heavyhearted as she repeated what Him told her to say.

"We have cell phones, though." she pulled out her cell phone and gave it a thoughtful glance.

She let out an irritated sigh, "Blossom, we don't have time for this, let's go!" now that it was acting against her, Blossom's questioning nature was troublesome.

She flew out the door without waiting for Blossom's response. Only a few moments passed before her sisters joined her. They all flew off toward the city; she could already see the smoke and hear the screams, which was the only thing that kept her sisters from inquiring as to where she had been. Her heart started to beat rapidly beneath her chest; she didn't think it would be this bad. The large monster wasn't far from them, and it was large. The damage to the surrounding buildings was exponentially horrible, and it made her sick.

Her eyes widened as she saw City Hall, half of it really was destroyed. She didn't think that it really would be. Fear washed over her, she hoped that the Mayor was okay. As she tore her eyes away from the rubble, she noticed that the other two were already driving the monster away. It wasn't putting up much of a fight, but according to Him, it would get worse. So bad that they would have to kill it, instead of driving it away like they would normally do. Beating the monster was all she was told to do, Him would not explain any further.

After forcing her hindering thoughts away, she joined her sisters in the fight. The beast that stood before her cast a shadow as long as the tallest buildings and had eyes of putrid green. The same color of vile green coated the jagged scales that armored his body. A lizard like tongue slithered past his hazardous yellow teeth. His monstrous tail swung bake and forth and beat against the buildings like drums. She joined her sisters as they rammed into their foe in unison. Steadily, the monster's vigor increased, along with her uneasiness. Buttercup seemed to be taking the lead in completely destroying the thing, and Blossom started to slowly follow her actions.

She did a quick scan of the city, over half of it was destroyed, people were running away from the city instead of retreating to their homes. The situation was becoming direr. She understood the need to get rid of the monster, but she had never killed anything. Buttercup had killed a few monteros creatures before, and Blossom would reluctantly help. She had always stepped back at those moments, and this time was no different. She stood by, watching in silence as the beast's life slowly faded away. With one final blast from Buttercup, the monster fell to the ground, and it did not get up.

She saw the smiling faces of her sisters; it was considerably odd since they were usually somber after having to take the life of something. She could not force herself to return the smile though, since she knew that this tribulation was not yet over. While still covered in muck and blood, Blossom and Buttercup tackled her to the ground in a loving hug. Before they had a chance to say anything, Bubbles let out a gasp as she noticed a violet gas coming from the dead form of the monster. Once she realized that Blossom was giving her an odd look, she pointed to what she was seeing. The moment Blossom glanced back, the gas exploded forward and engulfed them. Suddenly, something jerked her back and up before she had a chance to react.

"_There's no need for you get caught up in all that._"

Her stomach fluttered in uneasiness as Him's arm wrapped around her waist, but her thoughts quickly moved away from that. The darkening gas thinned across the shattered pavement, revealing Blossom and Buttercup. For a moment they did not move, which caused panic to stir within her. She watched closely and was relieved when Buttercup tried to push herself up from the ground. Him's arm pulled away from her, and she took the opportunity to rush to Buttercup's side. She knelt by her and assisted her in siting up, and then she turned to Blossom, who had still not moved. Lightly, she placed her hand on the shoulder of her other beaten and bruised sister, who let out a groan of pain in response. Bubbles pulled her up, and her eyes fluttered open as she let out another sound of pain.

"Bubbles...I feel...so tired." she took deep jagged breaths between her words and could barely keep her eyes open.

"Don't worry, I'll get you home, it will be okay." she glanced back to where Him was, and wasn't surprised to see that he was gone.

She dragged herself and Blossom across the ground toward Buttercup; carefully she leaned them both on her shoulders and shakily stood up. Once she had a firm grip on them, she rose from the ground, well above the remnants of the city. She didn't like doing this, dragging her sisters back to their house. They would always fly back together, virtually unharmed. When she arrived home, the same thing happened as the last time she brought her sisters home in such bad condition. The Professor took them down to the lab without hesitation.

**xXx Later xXx**

Bubbles sat on her bed, letting the warming sun light that came from the window hit her back. She twirled her purple octopus in her hands, like she had been doing all day. She closed her eyes and hugged her purple friend to her chest. For a few moments she sat in silence, then she let out an annoyed sigh as the smell of spicy ginger hit her. Him, standing at the edge of her bed, greeted her opening eyes. She felt tired and stressed, and was in no mood to put up with him.

"_You look upset again._" he sat on the edge of her bed.

She frowned, knowing something was wrong. She felt it ever since the violet gas erupted from the dead monster, "Back in town, when that gas came... You jerked me away, why?"

He gave her a crooked smile, "_You don't give yourself enough credit, you're just as smart as Blossom. I think you can figure it out on your own._"

"I am just as smart, and you're avoiding the question."

"_Go find out for yourself, it will be very obvious... though it may be hard to tell if they are bedridden._"

"...You didn't tell me that it would be that bad."

He gave her an amused look and moved closer to her, "_How cute... what did you think I was going to do...?_" he placed his claw on her check, "_How about we make another deal? I'll tell you what I'm going to do, if you promise to go along with it._" he spoke with a slightly mocking voice, as if he wasn't serious.

"Sorry, I'm not making any more deals with the Devil..." she looked away from him, not wanting to see the amused expression she knew that was on his face.

She squinted her eyes as she heard his dark chuckle, "_Very well._"

That sounded like his cue leave, but she never felt him leave the bed. She took a deep breath and turned to face him. She was slightly shocked, he wasn't looking at her in his usual sarcastic way, instead, he was glaring at her intensely. His grin was gone and he looked like he was deep in thought.

**xXx Him xXx**

He frowned as those 'trivial desires' came back to him. He laughed silently to himself, he was just thinking about this too much. Even though this was a plan to get rid of the Powerpuff Girls, there was no reason why it couldn't be a game. Why not mess with her head... a bit more. He knew her emotional integrity must be unstable, and he would love to see her break ... All of this would be a game, nothing more.

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

As his evil smile came back, she clenched her sheets in her fists and held in her breath. She did not flinch away when he moved closer and closer still. The claw that was on her check traced her jaw line; it was soft and gentle until he gripped her chin and jerked her into a harsh and cruel kiss. Panic kicked in completely when she was pushed down onto the bed. Her hands immediately unclenched the sheets and pushed against his shoulders. She slammed her eyes shut and tried to ignore the tongue that ran across her lips. Before she could to do anything, which regrettably would be giving in, he pulled away. Red smoke fell over her body when she opened her eyes.

"I can't take much more of this." she rubbed her aching head.

She stayed on the bed, being too tired and stressed to rant about what had just happened. While trying to think about something other than the kiss, she remembered what he had said about her sisters. Somehow her tiredness faded and she ran down to the lab. She came to a screeching stop when she reached the door. She took a calming breath before entering. The stairwell was dark, but she could see a dim light at the bottom. Instead of taking the chance of tripping down the stairs, she flew down. Blossom and Buttercup were on metal tables side by side.

"Bubbles?"

She gasped at the sound of Buttercup's voice, "Yes, I'm here." she quickly moved to her side, "Do you need something?"

"...I could use a glass of water." she pushed herself off the table.

"No, I'll get it for you."

"I can get it myself!" it was her usual stubborn response.

She sighed, knowing it would be fruitless to fight her on this, "Okay, but at least fly up the stairs, since I know you're not going to let me help you."

She received only a nod from her. For some reason she watched as Buttercup prepared to take off. She leaned forward but only fell down. Bubbles quickly moved to her side, giving her a concerned look.

"I don't think you're strong enough to fly yet."

Buttercup stayed in an odd silence for a few moments, "It's gone."

She moved closer so she could clearly see her face, "What's gone?"

"My powers, they aren't weak, there gone."

"What...? Well, wait, how could you know that?"

"I don't know, I just feel different...weak."

She helped Buttercup get back to the bed and got her a glass of water before going back to her room. She paced back and forth a few times before deciding what she needed to do, "Him!" she felt confident that he would come if she called his name.

She only had to wait a few seconds for Him to appear again, "_Yes?_"

The voice came from behind her, so she twirled around, making her spiral curls bounce against her head, "What did you do?"

"_Why whatever do you mean?_"

"Buttercup's powers are gone. It came from that monster, didn't it?"

"_Perhaps._" his sadistic smile widened.

Something odd occurred to her, "Why did you not take my powers away?"

He chuckled and closed the space between them, "_I offered you a deal, and you refused, so I'm not going to tell you anything._" his mocking voice had a very playful tribute, "_... Are you going to come with me, or do you want to stay here a bit longer...?_"

She gave him a befuddled look, "What?"

"_Hmmm, I didn't think it was that difficult of a question... Do you want to stay here?_"

She hesitated, doubting his sincerity, "...Of course I want to stay here."

"_As you wish, but of course..._**you must be on your best behavior.**" a chill ran through her body as he kissed her forehead and vanished.

She let out a frustrated cry and flopped down on her bed. For what little comfort it gave, she hugged her purple octopus against her chest. Her thoughts ran freely through her head. Did she want to stay? Earlier, she had almost kissed him back. A depressed sigh came as she realized what she had just admitted to herself. She thought for sure that this time away from Him would fix things. She would be back with her sisters and everything would go back to normal... she gasped as she realized that things wouldn't go back to normal, her sisters were powerless. Things would never be normal, never...She suddenly came up with an answer as to why he might be doing this; if things around here were changed enough, she wouldn't want to stay. Was that his plan, to make life here so unbearable that she would actually go to him? Did he really think that would work... or was it really the plan? She let out another frustrated cry as she buried her head in her pillow.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ch. 10**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

The girl's classmates pushed past them in a frenzy, making a mad dash for their classrooms. Bubbles watched as her now powerless sisters went their separate ways, to their own classes. She cast her gaze down to the dull floor and subconsciously dodged the onslaught of students. It had been three unbearable days since Him let her go and he had not made contacted her since. Her sisters, as well as the Professor, had been questioning her about where she had been. They were never content with her answers. She told them that Him had took her, but she managed to get away. She refused to explain any further. Luckily, her sister's weren't consistent with the inquiring; they became depressed as days passed by with no signs of their powers resurfacing. Blossom was confused and saddened while Buttercup was infuriated and moody. They had both asked her what took their powers away and why she still had hers. Buttercup had been expressing her anger fully, clearly showing that she hated the fact that she was now weak, while Bubbles wasn't.

She never retaliated when Buttercup went on one of her rants. It was unfair, and she felt like she didn't deserve to still have her powers. The only good thing was that no one knew their powers were gone. Neither one spoke more than two words to her earlier that morning and she believed it would stay that way after she didn't even receive a good-bye from them. The conflict at home was not the only problem. The city had taken massive damage, and the citizens weren't all too happy about it. To top it all off, the Mayor had been injured in the attack; he had a broken arm and suffered a hit to the head. He was supposed to get out of the hospital today. She stopped in front of her locker; it was right beside her classroom, so she didn't hurry like the others. She pulled on the door of her locker and she sighed remorsefully as it came off its hinges. It had been giving her problems all year; she knew it was only a matter of time before it broke.

"What, now you're breaking your locker? Haven't you caused enough damage?"

Bubbles recognized the girl as Amy. She had always given her and her sisters a hard time and most of it had been unprovoked. She had a reason to be upset today. Her apartment had been destroyed by the monster. Suddenly, Brick stepped in front of her; she could tell the other two were behind her.

"I don't know why you're complaining, Amy. You should consider yourself fortunate that you and your mom weren't in there," he spoke with a harsh voice as he stared down at the brunet haired girl.

"Tell that to my poor dead dog that was in there!" her chocolate eyes filled with tears.

Butch frowned, "Drop the act, everyone knows you've already bought another insanely expensive puddle. You're just trying to make Bubbles feel bad for something she had no control over. Besides, she had more important lives to save than your dog."

Amy's fake tears faded away and she peaked around Brick to stare at Bubbles, "You're just lucky the red head was here." With that she turned away, shaking her butt the whole way.

"Tch, too bad she wasn't in there." He glanced up at her locker, "though you might want to put some thought into anger management. You know what, you should take Buttercup with you," his voice changed to a friendly joking one. That was new.

She tossed the metal door aside and watched it skid across the hall, "It just fell off." She wanted to give a normal response to his joke, but she just couldn't.

"Hey, don't let Annoying Amy get to you. I think she needed the drama in her I'm-so-rich-and-perfect-life. You have nothing to feel bad about."

"You shouldn't talk about her like that, she's just..."

"Yeah, bitchy, everyone knows." He gave her one more smile before running off with his brothers.

To her relief, she managed to get in her class and in her seat before the final bell rang. The class passed by in silent, uneventful boredom. The teacher continued her ramble on what they learned the week before. She attempted to ignore the occasional stares she received during the tedious lecture. Random glances were something she had grown accustom to, but these were more like glares. She could understand their frustration though, through all years of protecting the city, it had never taken such damage.

She knew it was easier for some to go through something dramatic when someone else can be blamed. Her life, as well as her sisters', had switched back and forth from being hero worshiped to being scapegoats. The latter seemed more evident as of lately. She was lost in her thoughts as the bell rang through her ears. While the other students gathered up their things and left the room, she remained seated. Her oblivious teacher didn't realize she was still there, so she left the room to do her hall duty, closing the door behind her. She made no movement to leave; she knew this teacher didn't have a class this period.

"_You'll be late for your next class, my dear. You should hurry along._" His voice came from behind her.

She nearly fell out of her chair as she tried to turn around to face him, "What are you doing here! Someone is going to see you." She hissed at him as she pushed herself up from her seat.

"_You're just being paranoid._" His teasing voice made her frown.

"No, you need to leave. This is a small school, nothing stays secret around here long." She gave him a pleading look, even though she knew it would have no effect.

She slumped back into her chair in defeat and closed her weary eyes. Regret hit her when she felt Him leaning over her, with great effort she opened them, and jerked back a bit when his eyes greeted hers. It was all in vain, since he only moved closer to her than he was before. She wanted to move back further, but her back was already pressed against the arm piece of the desk that wrapped around to the back of the chair. She knew there was a reason why she hated these desks so much. She was prepared to push him away when his lips blushed against hers. Her eyes widened as his clawed hand cupped the back of her neck, pulling her closer.

She wanted to fight back, but his gentle hold seemed to render her weak. Despite her feelings, she closed her eyes but made no movement to do anything else. Her mind was too busy spinning to do anything, she was so confused, and his touches and kisses were so gentle. She tried to sort out her jumbled mind, but the tongue that was running across her lips was proving quite distracting. Her defiance broke and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him tentatively. His claw trailed up her neck, sending a pleasant shiver through her body. The ribbons that held her spiral curls suddenly came undone, letting her hair brush against her shoulders. He began to bite at her lip, but far too lightly to make her gasp. He sifted restlessly above her and started to pinch at her skin with his claw. If he wanted that to induce pain, he was sadly mistaken. He instantly froze, just for a moment, before pulling back, with a look of disappointment on his face. She only had a moment to look at his unhappy expression before he disappeared. A blue ribbon was laying on her lap, just one. She searched for the other one, but could not find it. She suddenly felt very alone, that is until the door opened, revealing her teacher with a mountain of papers in her hands.

"Bubbles, what are you still doing here," she glanced up at the clock on the wall, "you're already late for your next class." She gave her a disapproving look.

She scrambled to her feet and gathered her things, "Sorry," she mumbled as she tried to make her way to the door.

"Bubbles...? Have you been eating the markers?" She laughed slightly but still had a concerned look on her face.

"What?" she pulled a mirror out of her purse and her face turned bright red as she saw Him's black lipstick smeared across her own lips. She quickly grabbed a tissue from the box on the teacher's desk and rushed out the door.

**xXx Lunch xXx**

Blossom and Buttercup were sitting beside each other at an otherwise empty table. She sat in front of them and felt her heart sink when they did not offer her a greeting. Her head dropped and she stared at the mediocre food she got from the lunch line. She stabbed at the mashed potatoes as their silence stretched on. A sound from across the room made all three of them look up. A senior was picking on a freshman, and he had just knocked the kid's tray to the floor. Bubbles looked at Blossom, who normally would have stopped that from happening, with her amazing speed. Her red-haired sister looked down at her tray before standing up at making a dash for the bathroom. Buttercup did not make any movement to indicate that she was going to follow after her, so Bubbles decided to instead.

She entered the bathroom to see Blossom leaning over a sink, glaring into the mirror, "Blossom, are you okay?"

She didn't even bother trying to put on a fake smile, "How can I be okay? This is horrible. What are we supposed to do when something attacks the city again? You may still have your powers, but we work best as a team," she kept her gaze firmly fixed on the mirror.

Bubbles walked to her side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Maybe the Professor has figured something out. If anyone can fix this, it's the Professor...Just hold on until we get home, maybe he'll have good news."

Blossom could now see Bubbles in the reflection, "Why is your hair down? You always have it up."

A slight blush covered her cheeks, "The ribbons fell out, and I could only find one."

Blossom gave a sad sigh, "Bubbles, what's wrong with you? I know something is up, you're hiding something. Why?"

All the color drained from her face, "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not hiding anything."

Now Blossom's cheeks flared, "I know when you're lying to me, I've always been able to tell when you're lying. Why won't you tell me? Are you in trouble or something, let me help you."

She paused and thought, could she tell her? Despite the fact that she had kissed Him, she was still scared. She knew he couldn't be trusted. What would happen if she did? It wasn't as if Blossom could do anything. She had sat through her other classes in guilt. Oddly enough, she didn't want to talk about the trouble she was in, it was the kiss. Every time Blossom and Buttercup had kissed a boy, they would always spend an entire night talking about it. She needed that.

She fidgeted with her hands, "Blossom, I kissed Him today."

Blossom rushed to her side, "What, who? Who did you kiss?" She looked down at her with a new smile.

Bubbles expression saddened when Blossom didn't understand, "...No one," she said as she turned to leave the bathroom.

Blossom grabbed her wrist before she could make it out of the door, "Wait, you have to tell me!"

Her sadness increased at seeing Blossom so happy, when she had been depressed only a moment ago, "... Maybe we can talk about it at home, with Buttercup," to keep Blossom, and possibly Buttercup happy, she would play this up as much as possible.

Blossom appeared slightly crestfallen but still kept her smile on, "Okay, let's go," for the first time in a while, the two girls walked away with linked arms.

Blossom quickly ran back to her set and almost knocked Buttercup out of her set when she went to whisper to her. Buttercup gave a small grin, but before she could say anything to Bubbles, Blossom pressed a finger against her lips and gave a small 'shhh.' Throughout the rest of lunch the two girls looked up at the clock in excited anticipation. Bubbles, however, wished time would slow down. She had lost her nerve to tell the truth when Blossom mistook 'Him' for 'him'. There would have to be more lies..

**xXx Later xXx**

Buttercup was running ahead of Blossom and Bubbles, "Running like this sucks, if we had our powers, we would be home by now," she reached back and grabbed a hands of her two sisters and pulled them along.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Buttercup! What's the rush?" An aggravated Blossom stumbled over her feet a few times as she tried to keep up with Buttercup.

"Look, I don't want to run into Butch, Boomer or Brick. I know they have helped us out recently but they could easily go back to their old annoying ways. If they start picking on us, they could find out we lost our powers and I don't want that."

Blossom frowned, "I don't think you have to worry about them finding out that way..."

"Why?"

She gave an irate sigh, "Because, you've already screamed it twice."

Buttercup looked like she was ready to argue, but simply turned away. It didn't take long for them to arrive home, and no one hesitated to rush inside. Blossom disappeared while Buttercup pulled her into the living room and forced her onto the coach.

"Talk," she looked at her sternly.

"Sh-shouldn't we wait for Blossom?"

She frowned and sank further into the coach, "Fine."

Unfortunately, Blossom came back all too soon, "Professor was asleep down in the lab, I didn't want to wake him," she sat down beside Bubbles.

"So, what happened. I know I was excited when you told me, and I didn't realize that you looked like you were going to cry. I'm guessing you're not happy about it?"

"I don't know," she avoided eye contact with her since she was happy about it.

"Well, who is it!" Buttercup jumped on the coach impatiently.

She glanced back at Blossom, who now had a hard expression on her face, but she ignored it and looked back at Buttercup, "Well, you could guess... You did that to us last time you kissed someone," she felt a little satisfied, knowing she would not be able to guess.

She felt Blossom tap her on the shoulder, she turned to see Blossom's unhappy appearance, "You said you kissed this guy today... but you've been acting weird for a long time. There's something else, isn't there?"

Panic zapped through her body as she pushed herself up and ran into the kitchen, but Blossom was right on her heals, "Bubbles... tell me."

She turned to face her and leaned against the counter for support, "Blossom, you didn't understand earlier... Do you remember exactly what I said?"

"Yeah, you said, 'Blossom, I kissed him today'. Why?"

She felt her heart beat rapidly against her chest, "I did tell you who I kissed, I said his name... In that sentence, I told you, " she spoke very slowly, hoping she would understand.

"No...you didn't..." Bubbles watched as a cluster of emotions displayed across Blossom's face, "All you said was him. That doesn't tell me anything... but...him...you couldn't mean?" She gave a sad laugh.

"Maybe I do," even though it hurt, she continued to look her sister in the eyes.

"...Him, our enemy?" She almost chocked on her own words, "The one we've been fighting since we were in kindergarten? You can't mean that, tell me you don't mean it," tears were now feeling her pink eyes.

Bubbles could do nothing more but shack her head in confirmation, especially since Buttercup had just walked in, hearing the last bit of the conversation.


	11. Chapter 11

**Ch. 11**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

"What about Him? What are you guys talking about?" Buttercup gave a confused glance to the tearful Blossom.

Blossom, however, barely noticed her entrance, "Bubbles, I don't understand. How could that happen?"

Buttercup raised her voice, "How could -what- happen?"

Once again she was ignored as Blossom took a few steps forward, "...Tell me what this is about," she spoke in a pleading voice, but it was not void of frustration.

"What's going on here?" Buttercup's scream filled the tiny kitchen, and she threw out her arms in defeat when Blossom refused to say anything.

She hesitated for a moment before deciding that she wanted, she needed, to tell the truth, "Remember when Professor was in the hospital? Despite what the doctors said, he wasn't doing well. So..." her mind became jumbled as she searched for the right words, "Him made him better. I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but I was so worried," she fidgeted uncomfortably as she felt the stares from the two other girls.

"So why did you kiss him? What did it have to do with saving the Professors' life?"

"You kissed Him?" Buttercup nearly choked on her words and backed away from Bubbles in disgust, "Are you guys playing some kind of prank on me, because it's not funny," she retreated even more when no one laughed and shouted out, 'got ya!'

Bubbles paid no attention to Buttercup's outburst, "It didn't have anything to do with that, it just happened," desperation crossed her face when she realized she couldn't possibly justify her actions.

Blossom thought for a moment, "You said Him saved the Professors' life, but for what? What does he hope to gain?" As usual, she was asking herself that question more than Bubbles.

Buttercups' irritated voice cut in, "What do you think? He's using Bubbles to get to us!" For the first time, Blossom looked at her raven haired sister.

Bubbles stomach turned as the conversation moved away from the kiss. Blossom's expression changed to one that said, 'why didn't I think of that?'

"Why did you wait so long to tell us? We could have helped you," grief was visible in both her eyes and voice.

Buttercup still appeared annoyed, but pain was in her voice as well, "We all know how powerful Him is, but that doesn't mean that you have to go through this alone."

Bubbles' legs failed her and she fell to the cold tilled floor of the kitchen, all while hot tears poured from her blue eyes. She sobbed alone for only a moment before her sisters rushed to her side and wrapped their arms around her trembling body. As she cried, relief washed over her; they weren't mad. Then again, they didn't know the whole story. Her heart ached terribly in her chest, it felt as if a predatory bird was trying to claw its way out. She knew what it desired, to tell the complete truth. The bird wanted to burst out and scream that Him had taken away their powers. That she had a helping hand in weakening them. Without putting forth much effort, she attempted to push herself away, but they clung to her with all their might. She took in a deep breath to steady her uneasy heart.

"There's something else I need to tell you," the two girls peered up in response to her barely audible words.

"What is it? Whatever it is, we'll work it out," Blossom said in a tentative voice, and Buttercup nodded in agreement.

She inhaled deeply once again, "The monster that destroyed your powers, it was Him's monster. It was Him's plan."

Buttercup was the first to pull away, "What! You knew! You knew the whole time and you didn't tell us!"

Her panic overpowered her voice, "I couldn't tell you!"

"Why couldn't you tell us? What could he possibly have over you to make you keep such a secret?" Buttercup was now standing, towering over her.

She felt Blossom move from her, but she said nothing. The tears had never stopped, but now they came twice as hard. Before she could speak, she sensed a change. She knew what this familiar feeling was, even though there were no visible signs yet. Then it came, the red smoke, the warmth, the gingery smell. Something new happened this time, though, all loud crash echoed from upstairs. Him appeared directly after, standing behind Blossom and Buttercup, out of their line of sight.

"_Why don't you tell them why you weren't allowed to say? You've already told them everything else._" Oddly enough, he didn't seem angry, it sounded more like he was enjoying it, "_Did you think I wouldn't hold true to my threat?_"

Her eyes widened, "The Professor!" She took off in a jolt of speed.

She was in the Professor's room in no time at all, but there was no father to be found. Instead, a huge hole came into view, letting light shine into the otherwise dark room. The footsteps of her sisters sounded through the hallway just behind her. Soon, they too were staring in shock at the gaping hole in the wall. She ignored the questions from the other two and dashed down the stairs and back into the kitchen. Him was not there. She spun around, checking all the corners of the room. No such luck. Butterflies zoomed violently around in her stomach as she heard Blossom and Buttercup calling out for the Professor. She wrapped her arms around her body, knowing they would not find him here. She grew more nervous as they came closer and closer, she knew there would be a confrontation.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, "What happened to the Professor!" Buttercup screamed as she glared into Bubbles' melancholy eyes.

Blossom pushed Buttercup away, with some effort, and laid a shaky hand on Bubbles' arm, "What's happened? What is Him going to do with the Professor?"

Buttercup responded by rejoining the two and slapping Blossom's hand away, "He took the Professor away because you told us, didn't he! Why did you tell us if you knew that was going to happen?"

"Buttercup, you're not being fair! We wanted her to tell us!" Blossom turned away from her and was now facing Buttercup.

Buttercup did the same thing and stared down her red-haired sister, "She didn't -have- to tell us!" Her fists were clenched tightly at her side.

Blossom's hands were on her hips, "You would have done anything to make her tell us what was wrong."

Her checks flared, "Anything? I can't do anything without my powers!" she turned back to Bubbles, "which is your fault, too!"

"Buttercup!" Blossom physically forced Buttercup to face her again.

The raven haired girl cut her off, "No, don't defend her! You know it's her fault!" Once again, she threw her arms up in the air in defeat, and stormed out of the kitchen, out of the house.

"Bubbles?"

She looked away from her, "You hate me, don't you?"

Bubbles was immediately pulled into a hug, "No, how could you think that?"

She pushed herself away, "I have to find Him."

As she started to leave, a hand caught her wrist, which was still sore, "I'm going with you."

She jerked her hand away, "No, it's too dangerous. Besides, you need to find Buttercup."

Blossom shock her head, "Oh, no. you can't go alone, I don't want you to face Him by yourself. As for Buttercup, she can take care of herself, powers or no powers. Even if I did go after her, we would just end up arguing again."

"But..."

"No buts, let's go."

**xXx Him xXx**

A blue ribbon went back and forth between Him's claws, the beautiful blue clashed wonderfully against the vibrant crimson red. Occasionally, he would glance at the unconscious Professor, but his gaze was mostly fixated on the ribbon he took from Bubbles. An evil smirk played across his features; everything was going perfectly. All was according to plan. He knew sweet Bubbles would break and tell her sisters everything, especially after the latest kiss. The girls would slowly be torn apart; Buttercup would be the first to desert her. Blossom would take more time, but she will abandon her, too. The only thing that concerned him was the time. In a matter of days, Blossom and Buttercup would get their powers back.

Oh, yes, they would come back. He still had time, though, and if they stayed away for as long as he hoped, his plan would work perfectly. With one Powerpuff under his control and the two others powerless, it will only be a matter of time before the city fell apart. It wouldn't take much longer until the other villains noticed the town's vulnerability. Once that happened, the citizens will lose faith in the girls. When Blossom and Buttercup lose faith in Bubbles, she will have nowhere else to go but to him. This will prove useful when Blossom and Buttercup regained their abilities. He will use Bubbles to beat them, and the other low class villains...Perhaps she would remain with him, for another reason, but he couldn't focus on that now.

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Blossom stood in the front yard of their house, thinking. After insisting that she come along, she stopped once they got out the front door. Bubbles waited patiently for her sister to do something, "I don't even know where to begin looking, when you disappeared, we searched all of Him's usual hideouts. I don't think he would go to a place we already know about," she pondered some more, "Where were you when he had you?"

"I'm not sure, but I had never seen anything like it, it wasn't a house, it didn't even look like it was part of this world," Bubbles launched into a story about Him's hidden lair.

By the time the tale had ended, Blossom had a look of desperation on her face, "How do we get there?" Not much hope lingered in her voice.

"I don't know, I went and left there with Him, through the red smoke."

Blossom sighed and rubbed her head in defeat, "What do we do?"

Bubbles tried to sound a little perkier, only to have it fail horribly, "We can at least search the places we know about, maybe we can find something that can help us."

Blossom nodded and suggested that they take the Professor's car.

**xXx Buttercup xXx**

Buttercup leaned against a dirty brick wall, in a dimly lit alleyway. She had been brooding there for a while, she wasn't sure how long. Slowly, she slid down the wall, and sat on the non-too-clean ground. She pulled her legs up to her chest and laid her head on her knees. Her arms wrapped around in front of her. A wind blew and rustled her hair, and it felt as if something got caught in it. She jerked her hand up and grabbed whatever it was, her hand went back down to hover in front of her legs. She raised her head and opened her eyes to see a crisp piece of paper with writing on it.

"You're not going to find me in that alleyway, and you defiantly won't find me by yourself."

She sprang up and reread the note, and looked from side to side before darting out of the alleyway.

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

Bubbles stepped out of the car, and waited for Blossom to do the same, this was stop one, a small house on the outskirts of Townsville. Blossom said this was the last place they searched when she disappeared.

Blossom frowned, "The door is still open from the last time I was here, it doesn't look like anyone has been here... we should check anyway, though."

They walked through the dank and dusty house. Blossom volunteered to search the living room, kitchen and basement, should there be one, while Bubbles began to search the bedrooms. The first room was completely empty, except for the dust bunnies. The second room, while void of life, had basic furniture in it. Something caught her eye, and it was laying on the dusty bed. The bright white of the paper dominated the gloomy surroundings.

The paper read: "Do you honestly believe you will find me here? You know where I am, but you'll have to try harder than this to find it. "

Blossom gasped when Bubbles suddenly appeared in front of her, "Did you find something?"

Bubbles read aloud the letter, "It has to be from Him."

Blossom gave one last glance to the dirty room, "We should move onto the next place."

Bubbles followed after her when she left the house. Everything was silent as Blossom drove down the deserted road, and it stayed that way until they entered the city. Blossom slammed on the brakes and the car came to a screeching stop, "Why did you stop?" Bubbles rubbed her chest where the belt had been.

"Buttercup!" She was now looking behind her.

She followed her gaze and saw Buttercup running toward them. Blossom rolled down the window just in time for Buttercup to stick her head in. Even though her view was blocked, she could tell Blossom was given something. Blossom didn't turn to her and Buttercup got in the backseat.

Finally, Blossom faced her, "I think we're on a scavenger hunt," both notes were exchanged between the girls.

"So, what does it mean?" Buttercup asked Blossom

"'You know where I am,' I'm pretty sure I know where he means," she gave Buttercup a short description of the world Bubbles was in.

"So, how do we get there?"

Bubbles answered, "I think we have to find more clues."

Buttercup ignored her entirely and kept her eyes on Blossom, "Blossom, I asked you what we're going to do."

Blossom gave her a disapproving stare, "Bubbles right, we need more clues."

Buttercup snorted, "What are we on, 'Scooby-Doo?'"

**xXx Him xXx**

Him laughed in dark amusement as he watched the girls find the notes he left behind. Once again, he ran the blue ribbon through his claw; the ends were becoming torn and tattered as it slid over the sharp edges. Before he became completely consumed in his own thoughts, a grunt came from behind him. He turned to see that Professor Utonium had awoken, and was struggling to stand up. Every time he attempted to push himself up, he would end up flopping back down onto the ground. He did, however, manage to roll onto his back and open his eyes.

"W-where am I?"

"_Why, you're here, with me,_" he laughed as Professor Utonium gasped in surprise.

Before the Professor had a chance to ask any more question, Him decided that he didn't need to be awake, not just yet.

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

She stood in another dank and dark room, in the second house of their search. This one was still distant from Townsville, bit it was easier to get here through the city. She sat down on a dusty bed with a sigh, coming to the conclusion that this room held nothing of significance. That is, until it happened again, the smoke, the temperature change, the smell. Before he had even appeared, she clutched the nearest thing she could find: a pillow. As soon as she saw his gleaming eyes, she hurled the pillow at him. All he had to do to avoid it was to shift his weight to one side. After the fluffy excuse for a weapon flew past his head, it fell to the floor with a soft thud.

He let out a light, dark chuckle, "_You still have your powers, and yet you throw a pillow at me, and you miss._"

She ignored him and sprung up from the bed, "What have you done with the Professor?" She tried to keep her voice low, as to not attract attention.

Once again, his evil smirk widened, "_Why are you upset with me? It's your fault I have him,_" he shrugged nonchalantly, but took satisfaction in the guilty expression that consumed her.

She tried to shake her guilt away, "What have you done with the Professor?"

"_Oh, poor, sweet Bubbles, so forlorn, you're repeating yourself,_" he disappeared and reappeared behind her and leaned in close so that he could whisper in her ear, "**You're so concerned about him, you haven't even thought about what I'm going to do to you.**"

A shiver ran down her spine, and it happened again when he placed his claws on either of her arms. She took a deep breath and tried to pull away, but he simply pulled her back. Ideas of fighting back bubbled to the surface of her thoughts, but then she remembered how badly Blossom and Buttercup were injured when they fought him.

"Why are you doing this?"

He was silent for a moment, surprised that she so easily ignored his earlier statement, "_Doing what?_"

"Everything. Why me? Why not fight us head on, you beat Blossom and Buttercup before, it wouldn't take much more effort to beat all three of us."

He leaned in closer, which she didn't think was possible, "_It's more fun this way_."

"Fun?"

"_Yes, you know the meaning of the word, don't you?_"

His sarcasm only made her more annoyed, "This isn't fun!"

He laughed, "_I never said it had to be fun for you,_" he decided that this would be a fun moment, "_though you seemed to enjoy the kiss._"

Her face flared, but she was saved by the...Blossom, "Bubbles, if you haven't found anything, we're leaving!"

She managed to blurt out a response, "Okay, I'll be right out," she lowered her voice again, "let me go."

"_Is that a demand? How very bold." _

**xXx Him xXx**

He spun her around, and made sure to keep a firm grip on her arms, knowing that she would back away if she could. Defiant eyes glared up at him, instead of her usually peaceful ones. He ravished over the effect he had on her, that he could make her fell this way. That he had made such a connection with her, and she didn't even realize it. Honestly, he preferred the sweet Bubbles, but this one was always interesting to witness. Without a second though, he pressed his lips against her. He removed his claws from her arms and rapped both of his around her waist when she refused to kiss him back.

As he held her closer, she became less tense, which caused his smile to widen. That was a mistake, it made her tense again, which made him frown. He was actually confused, why wasn't she kissing him back? She did before. Was she really that upset about him taking the Professor? Perhaps he wasn't making as much success with her as he thought.

He pulled away, "**You're still trying to play the role of the hero, that won't do at all.**"

She frowned, "I am a hero."

He tightened his grip, "**No, you're not, you belong to me...In every way possible.**"


	12. Chapter 12

**Ch. 12**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

"_I assume you want your father back?_" his lips still hovered near her ear.

She tried not to cringe away, "Of course I do." her voice was barely above a whisper.

Something was placed in her hand, "_Then you will do exactly what is written in this note, and you will have him back once I'm satisfied with your actions, no sooner._"

A gasp escaped from her when Him pressed his lips against her cheek, the warmth rushed through her body and her eyes closed. Then it slowly abandoned her as his lips moved away and he disappeared altogether. Red smoke swirled gently around her body and it soon drifted to the floor, and then it too disappeared. She took a deep, cleansing breath, and looked down at the piece of paper. All the warmth that had filled her body suddenly vanished as she read the horrible words written upon the paper.

The paper crumpled in her fists, knowing she would never forget the components of the message; she tossed it to the ground. Her name was called out and she heard the engine of the car roar to life. She rushed out of the room and then out of the house, all the way to the car. It was nearly night outside, the sunset was slipping into its later stage, and the bright colors were fading into darker ones. She lingered by the car, refusing to get in when Blossom leaned across from the driver's seat and opened the passenger's door.

"I think I would prefer to fly home," she continued seeing the concerned expression on Blossom's face, "if it is okay with you."

She looked nervously to Buttercup, but she still refused to acknowledge her presence, "...Alright, call me when you get home, though."

She gave a brief nod and zoomed off into the air, she flew as fast and as low as she could, so her sisters could no longer see her. At her sister's request to call her when she arrived home (and she would arrive first) she knew she had to act quickly. The trees soon changed to buildings, and they were nothing more than a blur to her as she soared by. Her destination was finally reached, the one mentioned in the note, and she landed on the threshold. She glanced at the scenery behind her, the green lush grass and trees that rested in the middle of town, and the white stairs that went up and up and up.

The ones that ran along the side of the dormant volcano. Yes, she was at Mojo Jojo's lair. Just where the note had told her to go. With a deep breath, she raised her fisted hand and pounded on the metallic door. She could hear the repetitive ranting of Mojo and the clicking of his boots as he approached the door. His repetitiveness would usually gain a giggle or two out of her and her sisters, but she was alone now and felt too solemn to do so. The door jerked opened and revealed Mojo, looking up at her in annoyance, then surprise.

"You, what are you doing here, here at my home..."

She cut off what she knew would be a lengthy speech, she simply didn't have the time for it, "I need to talk to you!" She had to scream over his voice, since he was still talking.

He gave her a look that almost resembled disgust and the door slammed shut, she banged on the door again, "Open the door, I have to tell you something... It's a message from Him, please, you have to listen!"

The door opened an inch or so, "What could that devil possible want with me!"

She ignored his question and blurted out what she needed to say, "Blossom and Buttercup have lost their powers... and I am unable to fight back. The town is defenseless, now is the time for you to attack."

The door opened the rest of the way, "What kind if trick are you trying to pull on me, Mojo Jojo, do you think you can..."

She suddenly flew off of the stairs, but Mojo yelled after her, "Wait one moment! I thought you were powerless, you said you could not fight, yet you are flying!"

She landed back down on the stairs, "I'm not allowed to fight back."

He taped thoughtfully on the frame of the door, "What, you are working for Him now, little Powerpuff?"

The pain of his words hit her harder than she thought it would, and she flew off once again. She flew through the air, everything around her nothing more than a haze, and she arrived home far sooner than she had expected. Without delay, she took out her cell phone and called Blossom, but she took her time answering, "Hello?"

"Bubbles?"

"Yeah, what took you so long to answer?"

"I had to pull over before answering." She suddenly remembered all the rules that went along with driving, "Are you home?"

"Yes, I am."

Blossom was silent for a moment, probably pondering whether or not she had taken too long to get home, "Okay, we'll be there shortly." The line went dead.

She sighed and pushed on the door, and realized they had failed to lock it, she was not concerned though, no random thief would break into the Powerpuff home. She entered and sat on the coach, and simply waited, and waited. Soon, Blossom and Buttercup came in through the door, and Buttercup ignored her and stomped up to her room. Blossom sat down beside her.

"She'll come around, she always does. She just needs time."

"I'm not so sure." She murmured under her breath, far too low for Blossom to hear.

The buzz of the hotline phone filled the house, and Bubbles' heart sank once again. The buzzing died, and a moment of silence passed before Buttercup came jolting down the stairs, "Mojo is attacking Townsville!"

Blossom jumped up from the coach, "Let's go!"

She ran for the door, but Buttercup's voice stopped her, "And do what! We can't do anything!"

She looked from Buttercup to Bubbles, "We still have Bubbles, let's go!" As they all rushed out the door Blossom explained the plan, "Bubbles, we'll hang onto your hands, and we'll all fly to town. You should be able to beat Mojo by yourself, but we should still be there."

With that, Bubbles rose in the air and her sisters clutched her hands. It wasn't that difficult, she was only slowed down slightly, not that it really mattered. When they reached town, Mojo was attacking with a robot, yet again. She touched down to the ground, and her sisters stood beside her, ready to fight, even though they couldn't.

A voice echoed through the speakers of the oversized machine, "Ah, the Powerpuff Girls, it is so good to see you. So good to see that you will see the obliteration of Townsville! There is nothing you can do to stop it, try as you might, your efforts will be in vain! Failure is inevitable!"

Buttercup rubbed her temples, "He never shuts up, Bubbles, get rid of him."

The fact that Buttercup had finally talked to her didn't give her much delight. Without a single word, she blasted off into the air and zoomed around the giant robot in a huge spiral, stopping to hover slightly over its head. Silently, she watched as its metal appendage smashed into a building; the glass and building fragments exploded away from the arm and rained down on the clustered streets. Horror stricken, she watched as most of the people scurried away, but not everyone made it. Normally, those citizens would have been saved by one of Powerpuffs, but she had been forbidden to fight, to help in any way. She cringed away when the rubble crashed down on the ground, and silenced those who were screaming.

She could hear Blossom cursing in Spanish as she and Buttercup raced toward the pile of rubble. They were busy hauling away the ruins, so they didn't notice that she was simply floating in the air, letting Mojo continue on with his rampage. Then she saw what she feared would happen; when Mojo brought the machine's arm down again, Blossom took the bow from her hair and flung it, and it sliced through the arm perfectly. Blossom didn't need supernatural powers to throw a weapon. Bubbles went into action, trying not to think about what she was doing; she stopped in front of her sisters, took in a deep breath and let out a sonic scream.

Both flew back and crashed into the pavement, but took it all in stride. Blossom had no time to search out the source of the attack, the other metallic arm with a sharply spiked end came rushing toward her, and Bubbles closed her eyes, hoping Blossom would be able to dodge it. A scream sounded through the air, it came from Blossom, and it was a heart wrenching 'no!' Her eyes shot opened to a horrible image, Blossom was not in her original position, she was a few feet sideways from where she was standing, but she was now laying on the ground.

Brick stood where she had been, his arms spread out defensively, with the metallic spike thrust through his body. It had entered through his chest, and stuck out of his back, with scarlet blood flowing to the ground. Pain did not leave its twisted mark on his face; his expression consisted only of shock as his eyes were dragged down to the weapon that protruded into his chest. The metallic arm then jerked to the side, and his body was flung into a pile of rubble. Blossom made a mad dash for him, climbing up the mountain of rubble, tripping and sliding back down a few times. Her knees became scratched and bloody but she pressed on until she reached him.

Even from her spot, Bubbles could see everything clearly. The pain finally flickered in his eyes, and compelled them to lose their light. His color must have too been compelled, too, for his face palled. Frustrated and sorrowful tears rained down from Blossom's strained eyes; they fell on his checks and rolled down to his neck, giving the appearance that he was also crying. She knew he was not; the life had already fled from his beaten body, though Blossom seemed unable to accept it. Gingerly, she wrapped her arms around his torso and attempted to pull him up. Bubbles watched as she pulled, far too hard, and fell down the pile of ruins, taking Brick with her. His limp body landed on top of her when she hit the ground, panic and a remorsefully disgusted expression overtook her, and she pushed him off. Despite that, she grasped one of his hands and held it lovingly, letting her tears fall on their clasped hands.

Bubbles' hands clenched, and they scratched against something hard and grainy. She tore her gaze away from Blossom and Brick and saw that she had sunk down to the ground. With some effort, her hands unclenched and she wiped away her tears, only to have more replace them. She desired nothing more than to sit there and continue sobbing, but something distracted her. The deadly machine beside her roared and clattered. Her eyes flashed open in time to see Blossom catching her bow, as if it was a boomerang. The robot had been hit, she saw, and it exploded in a magnificent detonation, sending flaming shards of red and yellow down on the street, like shooting stars descending from the sky.

These 'stars' were not images of beauty, though, especially when one jagged shard of flame sliced through her forearm. She was thrown back violently, but regained her composer and did cartwheels through the rest of her fall, dodging the crimson stained fragments as she went. The last chunk of metal she avoided set her off balance, and on the last flip she faltered and fell, scraping her elbows and knees. She had no time to complain, a human sized shard was hurling toward her. She managed to jump to her feet and had just enough time to lunge to the side, from which she fell again, but she did evade it.

Once again, she dragged herself to her feet and prepared for the onslaught of metallic shards, but the barrage had ended. Black and white shrouds of smoke engulfed the town, and it took its time settling to the ground. Deciding to wait no longer for the air to clear, she ventured out into the fumes, searching for any sign of life. With every breath, her lungs ached more and more, and she could still find no survivors. Dizziness clouded her senses, so she cupped her over her mouth and nose, hoping to limit the intake of the flame's remnants. After a few silent moments of searching, she found Blossom, still clutching Brick. From the looks of it, she had not moved during the explosion; Brick had a fresh shard lodged in his side, not that he could feel it. Blossom wore a large gash across her flawless face. Smaller cuts marked Blossom and what was left of Brick.

She could barely find her voice, "...Blossom...?"

Her head jerked up, "Bubbles," for a moment it seemed that she was glad to see her, "you...you didn't do anything...and you attacked us..."

"No, Blossom..."

"I saw you!" She shook her head, sending tears in every direction.

She was about to deny it again, but she could feel Him's stare. She was slightly surprised, she hadn't notice his smoke appear, not with all the other black smoke in the air, "**You did indeed,**" he spoke to Blossom and placed his claws on Bubbles' shoulders, "**Very good, my dear, I had my doubts, but you've preformed your task beautifully."**

She watched silently as Blossom's expression became desperate and confused, "Bubbles, your task? What is he talking about?" Bubbles did not bother answering, there was no need, the look on Blossom's face had been seen many times by her before; Blossom understood exactly what was going on. Still, she was adamant to find a different solution.

"**Ah, it seems that you have taken Bubbles place as the innocently naive Powerpuff,"** he leaned in closer, but still spoke loud enough for Blossom to hear, **"Isn't that right?" **

His scarier voice was starting to bother her, and as if reading her mind, it suddenly changed, "_I think you've held up to your end of the bargain. Shall we go then?"_ Before she had the chance to protest, red smoke swirled up around her, and the last thing she saw were Blossom's hurt eyes staring up at her.

When she tapped down on the floor of Him's lair, she fell down to her knees instantly. She couldn't help but notice that Him had let her go as soon as they arrived; if he had been holding her, she would not have fallen. That concern soon left her upon seeing the Professor laying on the ground a few feet in front on her. Being too weak to stand, she crawled over to him and placed a shaky hand in his forehead. His eyes instantly darted open and peered up at her in relief. He struggled to sit up, but only managed to prop himself up on his elbows, which were clad in his torn and tattered lab coat. His whole appearance seemed disheveled; his black hair a greasy tangled mess, the white of his coat covered in dirt, black smudged on his face. He did not seem to be hurt, though; she could only see what the explosion in his room had done to him. His fatigue most likely came from the stress of this experience.

He placed a delicate hand over her own, "Bubbles, what's going on? Why has Him kidnaped me?"

She knew there was no use in lying to him; long ago, all the villains had given up on taking him hostage, in hopes of luring them into a trap. He knew there was something more to this, however, he did not get the chance to ask, nor did she have the time to explain anything. A portal magically appeared behind him, and what lay inside was their house. Her stare was so intense that she did notice Him taking hold of her arm and hoisting her, as well as the Professor, up.

"_I believe your time here is up, Mr. Utonium." _He stepped between him and Bubbles, making him retreat back into the portal.

"Bubbles," the Professor gave a look that asked if she was coming.

Ignoring Him, she tried to step forward, but was stopped short, "_Fair well, Utonium." _He pushed him completely into the portal, and it started to close in on itself.

"...But." She gave a pleading look as it disappeared.

Him gave her a fleeting glance, "_Did you think you could return back home?" _

She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of winning, but she spoke regardless, "Well...yes?" She refused to look him in the eyes.

He turned to her and leaned closer, his yes gleaming with maliciousness, _"You didn't make it part of our deal, my dear," _he gave her a crocked smile, _"besides, there is not much for you to go back to, you're much better off here," _at her doubtful expression, he continued, _"but since you aren't going to take my word for it, I'll go ahead and show you." _

He twirled her around quickly, making her hair clash against her tear stained checks; there, a few strands of hair stayed, glued there by the tears, and she dare not move to set her curls right. His arms wrapped themselves causally around her waist, before she could attempt to move away, the image in front of her gained full control over her eyes. The town laid before her, or at least what was left of it. Even though Mojo had been blown out of his robot, other villains had taken his place. Then she saw that Mojo was still there as well, with a whole arsenal of weapons. He looked slightly tousled from the explosion, but it was nothing compared to the condition of the town. When she had left, only seconds ago, there was almost no fire, but know it was somehow in full blow.

It blazed intensely, and the fire fighters, the few that weren't running for their lives, could not contain it. It spread at a devastatingly quick rate. Through all the smoke, she could barely make out the panicked hoards of people. Many were trying to flee the town, either by foot or by car, but it did not matter, they were stopped. Sometimes permanently. She flinched back but was stopped by Him's body. As more people fell, she clutched onto the nearest thing, which happened to be Him's arms, which were still wrapped around her waist. His arms tensed slightly under her grip, but that was unnoticed by her. Being unable to take it anymore, she spun around and buried her face into Him's chest. She knew he was laughing, she could feel the rumbling in his chest, but she couldn't care less. She would do anything to avoid seeing the world behind her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Ch. 13**

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

She knew that pleas and tears wouldn't work on Him, but she had to do something, "Please, stop it, please!" She clutched at the red fabric that was now soaked with tears, and refused to look up at him.

Even though she couldn't hear him properly over her own sobbing, she could once again feel the rumble of laughter in his chest, "**No, no, no. Time is up, my dear. I can't undo all of this, it is far too late to go back now,**" he brushed his lips against her ear as he spoke slowly, "**Besides, I have something far more interesting to attend to.**"

Do to the current situation, she was nowhere near the same line of thought as Him, and yanked herself away from him, "Then go do it!" Vigorously, she turned away from him and stalked off; to where, she had no idea.

Of course, she didn't get far, not when a scarlet claw clutched her wrist. Instinctively, she pulled harder in an attempt to free herself, which only resulted in a bloody wrist when Him retaliated back with a more forceful pull. She let out a distressed sob when she was slammed back against his chest and felt his arm wrap around her waist. There was no way out now.

"**I plan to do so...and since you seem so supportive of the idea, well, that only makes it better.**" His demon-like voice wasn't quite normal; it seemed more compelling than frightening.

Without any verbal warning, he spun her around and forcibly crashed his lips against hers. Before she could respond, a gust of warm wind swirled around her- a change in location. The sounds from the image of the distressed town faded away, until it vanished completely. She thought she would be more relieved, but she desired to know the fate of her small town. Him, as it would seem, wanted all of her attention focused on him. Before she could even think of pulling away from him to see if the image was in fact gone, she was pushed down onto something; with a spark of panic she realized that it was a bed. She fell onto a fluffy mass of red blankets, with Him on top of her, keeping her pinned down. Wordlessly, she stared up at the endless mass of black and red as Him kissed her neck. Butterfly kisses trailed her neck, across her jawline, and back down again. She let out a gasp when the kisses turned into small bites; a shiver ran through her every time his teeth pulled at her skin.

The grim, undying ceiling muddled her vision; the murky clouds seemed to swirl back and forth, like a sneering storm. Ever so slowly, the scarlet splotches faded to black, and it was only after all the color had vanished did she realize that she had closed her eyes. A familiar frantic voice screamed at her to open them, and to push Him away. Her body did not respond, however, and the little pleading voice of sanity faded away just like the red had. She kissed back, just as Him's tongue started rolling across her lower lip; when he had moved back to her lips, she didn't know. Cautiously, she parted her lips, but apparently it wasn't good enough; he bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood, and slipped his tongue in when she gasped.

He was victorious in his quest for dominance in no time at all; she barely had a chance to fight back. It soon became apparent that he wanted to keep the dominance, too. Her arms were pinned above her head, pushed deeply into the bed. His kisses became rough, more so than usual. They seemed almost desperate, but that wasn't the right word; hopelessly desperate was definitely not one of his characteristics. Even though she was truly kissing back, his fanged teeth scrapped across her lips, across her tongue, as if he was commanding her to do something more. Needless to say, she didn't know what to do, not really. She was perfectly aware that she couldn't possibly keep up with Him.

_Fortunately, _that didn't keep him from pushing; she could now taste her own blood. Without much thought, she bit down on his tongue, and as he let out a moan, she unclenched her teeth and felt her checks flair up. After that, he freed her wrists and wrapped his arms around her body, in order to pull her closer. Forgetting her earlier embarrassment, she took the opportunity to wrap her heavy arms around his neck, assisting in the 'pulling closer' part.

He suddenly stopped.

He buried his head next to hers to whisper in her ear, "**You've been quite fickle with me... tell me that you truly desire this.**"

She could hear the smirk entwined in his words, but didn't care, "I do want this."

All was silent for a moment. She was surprised at herself; she had spoken with such confidence, and without hesitation. Or any embarrassment. Or any thoughts about the events that were taking place just outside this real. Him was equally shocked, he did not move from his position, but his smile widened with each passing second. Despite the shock, he still doubted her sincerity.

"**If you do want this, then you'll have to let **_**them**_** go. You cannot hold onto your old life, it will serve you no good here. It will only hurt you.**"

This did cause a moment's hesitation, "...I love them, too."

He pressed himself closer, "You love me, sweet Bubbles?" He let out a small laugh, perhaps one of disbelief.

Now it was embarrassments turn to come back around, "I...I didn't mean...it's just." As she felt her checks warm, she turned her head away from him, trying to futilely put some distance between them. She wanted to move her arms as well, but since she really had nowhere else to put them, they remained where they were.

Him simply moved closer to her again, "**You think I know what love is? I can assure you, I don't understand it the least bit. If you have any delusions of a sugarcoated, fairytale ending, I suggest you do away with them.**"

His words hurt, but some unseen force kept her from backing down, "If you are unable to love, then why would you waste your time with someone who could? I'm sure there are plenty of demons and monsters you could have without the risk of an emotional attachment." She kept her gaze fixated on the table lamp that fell into her sight when she first turned away.

An amused chuckle sounded against her ear, "**What a clever girl,**" he inhaled deeply, "**I never said that I didn't find it all intriguing...What a person will do for love.**" He softly kissed her neck**. **

She became a bit uneasy at that remark, "You make it sound bad, 'what a person will do for love.'"

"**Oh, you know me so well. It sounds bad because it is.**" he kissed her again, "**You will kill them for me, it will be easy, their powers are gone."**

She stayed calm, after all, she knew this was coming, "You weren't listening, I said that I loved them, too."

"**It's not the same love.**"

"How would you know, you said you didn't know anything about love?" A small smile pulled at her lips, being satisfied at what she had tricked him into saying.

He laughed again, "**You've learned so much from your time with me.**"

"You're avoiding the question."

"**I'm the stronger one here, I can avoid as many questions as I desire.**"

"That's not fair."

"**Yet another perk of being the strongest; I can be unfair, too.**"

The conversation was becoming annoying to Bubbles, but she could tell that Him was loving every minute of it.

**xXx Blossom and Buttercup xXx**

The town was in shambles, and Blossom didn't even want to think about everyone that had died. Pure chaos ran through the streets. There were monsters running around that she had never seen before. She leaned against a lamppost that was bent half way over, and she was covered with sweat and blood.

A ragged voice came from behind, "Blossom, we can't keep this up... I don't think we're even helping."

With what strength she had left, she spun around, "Give up, I can't believe you're saying that. _You_, you never back down from a fight!"

Buttercup's expression was melancholy, "Blossom, Him has beaten us, you know he has. Not only has he taken away our powers...he took Bubbles...I guess all this chaos stole your ability to see things clearly, but it's over."

Her voice cracked with sobs, "So, what, we just lay down and die, let all these people die?"

Buttercup's stubborn features came back, "No way! We'll fight to the end...! We just need to know that this is the end, at least for us, but maybe we can manage to save a few people on our way down."

Blossom sniffed back her tears, "Right... and maybe Bubbles will..."

Buttercup cut her off with a stony glare, "No, Bubbles made her choice, she's not coming back. Even if she did, I wouldn't trust her," she softened her tone at seeing Blossom's sad eyes, "I know it is hard, but she has betrayed us, we need to forget about her."

She silently blinked away her tears. Even without her powers, she still had a sixth sense, and she could tell something was coming. She turned in time to see something big and dark hurtling towards her. Then the next thing she knew, she was in the air. Buttercup had her arms wrapped around her.

"Blossom.." They both looked down and then back at each other.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know, I ran to you, to push you out of the way. I flew off instead." A confident smile played at her lips.

**xXx Bubbles xXx**

She sat on the bed alone, watching Him stare off into the distance. He left her soon after their conversation, much to her dismay. She couldn't understand how he could have just stopped.

"_Your sister's abilities could come back at any moment, so you'll have to strike now._"

He waved his claw lazily and the portal that lead to the town reappeared. Blossom peered around Him, and gasped in surprise. Both Blossom and Buttercup were zooming around in the air, tossing villains around left and right. Hope sparked in her heart for only a fraction of a second. She could practically feel the anger radiating off of Him, and could see his body tense. With his deep voice, she heard him mumbling some dark and scary things. Without any warning, his shoulders sagged and he turned to her.

"_I suppose you're pleased, I guess they will have to wait, along with the city._"

He seemed to talking to himself more than to her, but that didn't hamper her mood. She smiled as Him went to his recliner and sat there, brooding. Silently, she sat back down on the bed, knowing that she would probably never leave this place. Oddly enough, that didn't seem to bother her. She doubted it ever would. The only thing that did was the fact that Him would never stop trying to do away with her sisters. Perhaps she could stop him, or cry until he gave in, either way. She had a feeling that she had more influence over him than he let on. Even if it not because of love.


End file.
